personaggio

Forms

personaggio m (plural personaggi)^[1] Older forms include personàgio and the northern personazo.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French personnage, a derivative of personne (“person”).^{[3][4][5][6][7]} In French the word is recorded from 1220–1230 for an important person, at first a church dignitary, and, from 1403 for a person represented in a work of art.^[3][2] Devoto sees the French word crossed with the native word for “person”;^[8] Wiktionary also analyses it as from Italian persona + -aggio.^[1]

The French noun goes back to Latin persōna (“theatrical mask; character, role”).^[3][4] The Latin word is a term of the theatre, usually traced to Etruscan phersu, found in tomb inscriptions beside masked figures.^[3][4] Nocentini adds that the Etruscan word may itself adapt Ancient Greek πρόσωπον (prósōpon, “face; mask”), so that the word would have reached Rome from Greek through Etruscan.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Luigi Pulci in 1483, in the sense “masquerade”.^[3] DEI also dates this sense to the 15th century.^[7] The sense “person represented in a play” is recorded in 1551, in the title of a Venetian comedy that lists its characters as personaggi.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “eminent, important person” is first found in Annibal Caro, who died in 1566.^[3] In 16th-century chronicles a personazo is a high official or a great lord: Girolamo Priuli writes of a French personazo of great reputation who was given the castle and government of Milan.^[2] Tommaseo's dictionary explained the link with the stage: actors of antiquity wore masks, and the characters of tragedy were kings and great men.^[9]

From the stage the word passed to the characters of novels, films and television, and colloquially to any odd or eccentric person.^[5][6][10] The old senses “masked person” and “masked party” are now archaic.^[5][10] In Mafia slang a personaggio can be a hired killer.^[6]

Timeline

• 1220–1230 – French personnage is recorded for an important person.^[3]
• 1403 – French personnage is used for a character in a work.^[3]
• 1483 – Pulci uses personaggio for a masquerade.^[3]
• 1551 – Personaggi are the characters of a Venetian comedy.^[3]
• Before 1566 – Annibal Caro uses it for an eminent person.^[3][5]
• 1861 – Tommaseo's dictionary explains the word from the masks of ancient actors.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. An important or well-known personage, a personality: Alla cena erano presenti diversi personaggi del mondo finanziario.^[5][6][10]
2. A character in a play, novel, film or television series, including animals given human traits: Il protagonista è il personaggio più riuscito del romanzo.^[5][6][11]
3. (colloquial) An eccentric, original person, a type: Il nostro vicino è davvero un personaggio.^[5][10][11]
4. (archaic) A masked person; a masked party.^[5][10][6]
5. (slang) A hired killer of the Mafia.^[6]

Related words

• persona
• personale
• personalità
• French personnage

Usage notes

Entrare nel personaggio is said of an actor who identifies fully with the part.^[5] A personaggio pubblico is a public figure.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 13, 108
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2866
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana