premio

Forms

premio m (plural premi)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin praemium (“booty; profit; reward”).^[2][3][4][5] The Latin noun comes from *prai-emion, formed with prae- (“before”) on emō (“to take; to buy”);^[6][7][4][8] originally it was the part of the spoils taken first and set aside for the god who had granted victory or for the victorious general.^[4][8] The verb's root goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁em- (“to take”).^[7]

DEI calls the word half-learned in all of western Romance: Catalan premi, Spanish premio and Portuguese prémio.^[4][9] French prime was taken from English.^[10] The sense “insurance premium” is a calque of English premium, which had it from 1661.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Nocentini date the word before 1306.^[5][3] DELI's first record is Domenico Cavalca (before 1342), in the sense of a recognition of merit and the token of it;^[2][11] Cavalca warns that a vice hidden under the appearance of virtue may make a man “expect a reward” (aspettasi premio) for what deserves eternal punishment.^[2][11]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian premio was above all a moral or religious reward, often set against punishment: the Italian translation of Dante's Monarchia calls honour “the reward of virtue”, and il premio eterno is the bliss of heaven.^[12][11][13] Boccaccio has premiare (1353), from Late Latin praemiare, and premiazione is recorded before 1406.^[2]

The commercial senses came later: the winnings of a lottery (1823, a Milanese newspaper), the sum paid for an option on the stock exchange (1874), and an extra payment to employees (1958).^[2] In marine insurance premio is recorded in 1813.^[4][14] Named prizes and competitions followed, such as the Premio Nobel and the Gran Premio of motor racing, and, from 1970 the word is used after a noun as an invariable adjective (viaggio premio, a trip given as a prize).^[15][2]

Timeline

• Before 1306 – Premio is first recorded.^[5][3]
• Before 1342 – Cavalca uses it for a reward of merit.^[2]
• 1353 – Boccaccio uses premiare.^[2]
• Before 1406 – Premiazione is recorded.^[2]
• 1813 – Premio is used in marine insurance.^[4][14]
• 1823 – A Milanese paper uses it for lottery winnings.^[2]
• 1874 – The stock-exchange sense is recorded.^[2]
• 1958 – Premio is used for a bonus paid to employees.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A prize or award: an object or a sum of money given for merit or to the winner of a contest: Ha vinto il primo premio della gara di cucina.^[5][16][17]
2. A moral reward: La gratitudine dei pazienti è il suo premio più grande.^[5][16][13]
3. A competition in which a prize is awarded, such as a literary prize; the work or the person that won it.^[5][16][17]
4. The winnings of a lottery or a game.^[5][15]
5. (insurance) A premium, the sum the insured pays to the insurer.^[5][17]
6. A bonus paid to employees or to players for particular results.^[5][16][18]
7. A subsidy given by the state to encourage an activity.^[5][18]
8. (finance) The sum paid in an option contract for the right to carry it out or withdraw from it.^[15][2]

Adjective

1. (invariable, after a noun) Given as a prize: una vacanza premio.^[5][2]

Word family

• premiare
• premiato
• premiazione
• premiando
• premiale

Related words

• premiata
• redimere
• esempio
• Latin praemium

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include premio di consolazione, for someone who has not won a main prize, premio d'ingaggio, the sum paid to an athlete for signing with a club, and gran premio, a major race.^[15][18][13]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3063
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
15. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
17. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
18. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli