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preghiera

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word preghiera

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1235 C. Ghiberti, as preghera More words from the 13th century
Borrowed from
Occitan preguiera
Ultimate origin
Latin prex

Pronunciation

  • /preˈɡjɛ.ra/[1]

Forms

preghiera f (plural preghiere)[1] Old forms include Old Italian preghera, Old Italian prieghiera and Old Italian pregera, and the masculine Old Italian preghiero, used by Cielo d'Alcamo and Guittone.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Occitan preguiera, also written pregueira.[2][5][1][6][3] The Occitan word comes from Vulgar Latin *precāria, the feminine of Latin precārius (“obtained by prayer, granted as a favour”) used as a noun, an adjective of prex (“prayer”).[2][7][8][9] Nocentini instead sees in it the neuter plural precāria (“things obtained by favour”) taken as a feminine singular, a derivative of precor (“to pray, entreat”).[10] In Medieval Latin precāria is short for charta precāria (“a document of petition”), found in the Formulary of Marculf.[1]

The same Latin word gave French prière and Catalan pregària, and Catalan passed it to Spanish plegaria and Portuguese pregarias.[6][4][3] Friulian preyere also comes from Occitan, and Sicilian prijera is a cognate.[6][1] The verb is pregare, and precario continues the Latin adjective.[2][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record, with a question mark, is preghera “humble and pressing request” in the Sicilian school poets of the late 12th century.[2] The religious sense, addressing God in words or thought, appears about 1235 in C. Ghiberti, also as preghera.[2] Nocentini and Devoto–Oli date the word to the first half of the 13th century, GRADIT and Zingarelli to before 1250.[10][11][5][7]

Semantic evolution

The form preghiera is first recorded in Brunetto Latini, before 1294, for a request, and in Dante (1313–1319) for prayer to God.[2] In Purgatorio 11 the souls say Quest'ultima preghiera, Signor caro, / già non si fa per noi (“This last prayer, dear Lord, is not made for us”), and Petrarch adores his lady con preghiere oneste.[12] The masculine preghiero of Cielo d'Alcamo and Guittone did not survive.[3]

The Italian name of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer (1549) is libro delle preghiere comuni.[4] The diminutive preghierina is recorded in Salvini in the 18th century.[4] Modern Italian also uses the word for a piece of religious music, and for the Muslim prayer rug.[5][7][11]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century (uncertain) – Preghera “request” in the Sicilian school poets.[2]
  • c. 1235 – C. Ghiberti uses preghera for prayer to God.[2]
  • Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses preghiera “request”.[2]
  • 1313–1319 – Dante uses preghiera for prayer to God.[2]
  • 1549 – The English Book of Common Prayer, in Italian libro delle preghiere comuni.[4]
  • 18th century – Preghierina appears in Salvini.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A humble or pressing request, entreaty: Ho una preghiera da farti: non dirlo a nessuno.[5][11][8]
  2. A courteous request in formal language: con preghiera di risposta, with a request for a reply.[5] Su preghiera di means “at the request of”.[5][7]
  3. prayer: the act of addressing God, the Virgin or the saints: Ogni sera la nonna si raccoglieva in preghiera.[5][8][7]
  4. A prayer, the words or set text with which one prays: preghiera dominicale, the Lord's Prayer.[5][7][9]
  5. (music) A piece of religious music whose text is an invocation to God, the Virgin or the saints.[5][7][13]
  6. Short for tappeto di preghiera, a Muslim prayer rug.[5][11]

Word family

  • preghierina

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  4. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3059
  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 Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  8. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  9. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
  10. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  11. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Preghiera.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/it/preghiera. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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