povero

Forms

povero (feminine povera, masculine plural poveri, feminine plural povere, superlative poverissimo)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin pauperum, the popular form of Latin pauper (“poor”) moved into the second declension.^[2][3][4][5] The classical adjective had one ending for all genders, and a late form with three endings was rebuilt after adjectives such as miser (“wretched”): the Appendix Probi already condemns the feminine paupera.^[6][1] Old forms are Old Italian povro and povaro, and Tuscan has poero.^[7][8]

The same Latin word is French pauvre, Occitan paubre, Catalan pobre, Spanish pobre and Portuguese pobre.^[3][9] REW gives Logudorese Sardinian pàbaru, Engadine Romansh pover and Friulian puar from the late form.^[9] Meyer-Lübke and DEI note that in much of Italy the word gave way to the diminutives poverello and poveretto, or to pezzente in the South and pitocco in the North.^[9][7]

The Latin adjective is a compound of pau- (“little”), as in paucus (“few”), and the root of pariō (“to give birth, produce”): “producing little”, said first of land and of animals.^[2][3] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *peh₂u-(o-)p(o)rh₃-o- (“providing little”).^[10] The /v/ is not the expected Tuscan outcome of Latin /p/ between vowels: Devoto puts it down to northern voicing, and Wiktionary suggests the word came into Tuscan early from the Gallo-Italic dialects.^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in the Bolognese teacher of letter-writing Guido Faba, before 1243, for a person with scant means of living;^[2][3][4] Nocentini and GRADIT date the word to the late 12th century.^[2][3][4] Brunetto Latini wrote of having no pity “de' suoi minori né di persone povere, inferme o misere” (for his inferiors or for poor, sick or wretched people).^[12]

Semantic evolution

By the end of the 13th century the word also meant “lacking in something” (Brunetto Latini) and “pitiable” (Bono Giamboni), the sense in which it now stands before the noun: un povero uomo is an unfortunate man, un uomo povero a poor one.^[2][5][13] Of land it meant “barren”, as in Latin, from the 14th century.^[7]

From Foscolo (1817) povero before a name means “the late”: Nocentini ties this popular use to the Catholic belief in Purgatory, where the souls of the dead need the prayers of the living.^[2][3] The phrases povero diavolo (1836) and povero cristo (1931) both mean a wretch;^[7] DEI compares French pauvre diable.^[7] Povero in canna “penniless” is in the Pataffio and in Varchi.^[14] In modern usage the word also names a style or movement that uses humble materials: cucina povera, and arte povera, a movement of the late 1960s.^[15][4]

Timeline

• Before 1243 – Guido Faba uses the word for a person without means.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for someone who arouses pity.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for something lacking in a quality.^[2]
• 1817 – Ugo Foscolo uses povero for a dead person.^[2]
• 1836 – Povero diavolo is recorded.^[7]
• 1931 – Povero cristo is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. poor, having little money or too few means to live on (after the noun): Vengono da una famiglia povera del Sud.^{[4][16][5][1]}
2. Of a country or community, having scant resources: le regioni più povere d'Europa.^[4][16]
3. Showing poverty; humble, modest: Abitavano in una casa povera alla periferia.^[4][5][16]
4. Lacking in something (with di): un cibo povero di grassi.^[4][16][5]
5. Of land, barren, not fertile; of wine, low in alcohol.^[4][16][15]
6. Of style or language, plain, bare, lacking ideas or words: in parole povere “in plain words”.^[4][13][17]
7. (before the noun) Unfortunate, pitiable: Il povero ragazzo non sapeva più cosa fare.^[5][13][1]
8. (before a name) The late, deceased: il povero zio Carlo.^[2][3][15]
9. povero in canna: penniless, very poor.^[16][13][14]

Noun

1. A poor person, i poveri, the poor: Ha lasciato tutto ai poveri della parrocchia.^[4][1]
2. (capitalised, plural) Part of the names of religious orders vowed to poverty: le Povere suore.^[4][16]

Word family

• poveraccio
• poverello
• poveretto
• poverino
• povertà
• impoverire
• impoverimento
• poveramente
• poveruomo

Related words

• pauperismo
• Latin pauper
• French pauvre

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
7. ^ a b c d e f g Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3045
8. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 13, 1131
13. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ 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
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli