prigioniero

Forms

prigioniero (feminine prigioniera, masculine plural prigionieri, feminine plural prigioniere)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian presoneri, Old Italian presonero, Old Italian pregionero, Old Italian pregioniere and Old Italian prigioniere.^[2] Devoto–Oli and Gabrielli still list prigioniere as an archaic variant.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is from Italian prigione (“prison”) + -iero.^[5][3][4][1] Wiktionary sees the influence of Old French prisonier, and Sabatini–Coletti and Treccani take the word directly from French prisonnier, which DELI and GRADIT date to 1080.^{[1][6][7][8][5]}

The base prigione is itself borrowed from Old French prison, which continues Latin prehēnsiō (“seizure, arrest”).^[8][9] DELI derives that noun from prehēnsus, the past participle of prehendō (“to seize, take”), and Nocentini from the intensive prehēnsō (“to grasp, capture”).^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the Venetian plural pressoneri in a document of 1312, and the standard form prigioniero is first found in Petrarch, who died in 1374.^[8][9][5] The sense is a person shut up and deprived of freedom.^[8] In one of his sonnets Petrarch calls himself vero prigioniero afflitto, “a true, afflicted prisoner”, who still carries a great part of his chains.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The sense of a soldier captured in war appears in the 14th-century Italian version of Plutarch, which tells how a commander set free all the prigionieri he had taken.^[8][10] In the same century the word could also mean the opposite, the jailer: Boccaccio uses prigioniere for the keeper of a prison, a sense the dictionaries now mark as obsolete.^[10][11][6]

The phrase prigioniero di guerra is recorded in a Milanese newspaper of 1801, and prigioniero politico is quoted from Corrado Alvaro and Primo Levi.^[8][2] The figurative use for someone held by a feeling, a habit or the past dates from Garzanti's dictionary of 1965.^[8] Technical language uses the adjective for a stud bolt, vite prigioniera, and children play palla prigioniera, where a missed throw makes the player a prisoner of the other team.^[6][7][3]

Timeline

• 1312 – The Venetian plural pressoneri is recorded.^[8]
• 14th century – The Italian Plutarch uses prigionieri for men captured in war.^[8]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses the form prigioniero.^[8]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses prigioniere for a jailer.^[10][11]
• 1801 – Prigioniero di guerra appears in a Milanese newspaper.^[8]
• 1965 – The figurative sense “bound by something one cannot escape” is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. imprisoned, captive: deprived of personal freedom, held under guard, especially as a captured soldier or a hostage: Il pilota fu fatto prigioniero dopo l'atterraggio.^[5][3][6]
2. Trapped in a place one cannot leave, also of animals: Siamo rimasti prigionieri nel garage per un'ora.^[5][3][7]
3. (figurative) Dominated by something one cannot free oneself from (with di), a slave to it: È prigioniera delle sue abitudini.^[5][6][7]
4. (mechanics) Vite prigioniera: a stud bolt, threaded at both ends.^[6][7]

Noun

1. A prisoner, a person held captive: prigioniero di guerra, a prisoner of war, prigioniero politico, a political prisoner.^[5][6][7]
2. (games) In children's games, a player who has been caught and is out until freed.^[12]
3. (obsolete) A jailer.^[6][4][12]

Related words

• prigione
• prigionia
• imprigionare
• sprigionare
• French prisonnier

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 14, 335
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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 h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b c d e f Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
12. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli