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primavera

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word primavera

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1100s late 12th century, Rinaldo d'Aquino More words from the 11th century
Inherited from
Latin *primavera
Ultimate origin
Latin vēr

Pronunciation

  • /pri.maˈvɛ.ra/[1]
  • Regional: /pri.maˈve.ra/[1]

Forms

primavera f (plural primavere)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *prīmavēra, a feminine noun remade from the classical phrase Latin prīmō vēre (“at the beginning of spring”), made of the ablatives of prīmus (“first”) and vēr (“spring”).[2][3][4][5] Glosses have Late Latin prīma vēra beside the phrase prīmum vēr, and Cato already wrote the ablative phrase for “in spring”.[6][1] Nocentini sees a change of gender, and the GDLI suggests the feminine ending may be due to aestās (“summer”).[7][8] The phrase first named the early part of spring and took over the whole season in the Romance languages.[1]

The same word is Occitan primavera, Catalan primavera, Spanish primavera, Portuguese primavera and Romanian primăvară.[7][9] Old French primevoire kept only the sense “primrose”, as modern primevère, and the French season is printemps.[7][9] The older word for the season, the adjective Vulgar Latin *vērānum “of spring”, gave Sardinian beranu (“spring”) but Spanish verano and Portuguese verão “summer”.[7]

The Latin noun for “spring” comes from Proto-Italic *wes-or, from Proto-Indo-European *ues-r/n- (“spring”).[10] It is related to Ancient Greek ἔαρ (éar, “spring”), Lithuanian vãsara (“summer”) and Old Norse vár (“spring”).[10][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI dates the first record to the end of the 12th century, in Rinaldo d'Aquino, with the sense “the season between the end of winter and the summer solstice”; the TLIO dates the poet to the first half of the 13th century.[2][11]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already extended the word to the plants that flower in spring, to the early part of a person's life before youth, and to a time of good fortune; in a religious sense it named the full happiness of the blessed.[11] Dante uses it for a mild climate, and in Boccaccio it is a flowering meadow.[2][4] Old forms include primaviera and primavela.[11]

The sense “a year of a person's life”, as in counting one's primavere, is recorded from 1815.[2][4] The primrose was fiore di primavera in Mattioli in 1544, and plain primavera from the late 18th century.[2][12] In football the Primavera is a club's youth team, and a player in it.[4]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century – Rinaldo d'Aquino uses primavera for the season.[2]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses it for a mild climate.[2]
  • 1544 – Mattioli calls the primrose fiore di primavera.[2]
  • 1786–1803 – Primavera alone names the primrose.[2]
  • 1815 – The word is used for a year of a person's life.[2]
  • 1828 – Piero Maroncelli writes primaverile.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. spring: the season between winter and summer; it begins on 21 March in the northern hemisphere and on 23 September in the southern.[4][13][3]
  2. (by extension) A mild climate: un'eterna primavera.[4][13]
  3. (literary) A flowering meadow; spring flowers.[4][13]
  4. (figurative) Youth, the time of life before maturity.[4][14]
  5. (figurative) The hopeful early phase of a nation's history.[4]
  6. (jocular, in the plural) A year of a person's age: avere sessanta primavere.[4][1]
  7. (football) A club's youth team, for players up to eighteen; also a player in it.[4]
  8. The primrose.[4][1]

Word family

  • primaverile
  • primaveresco
  • primaverina

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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  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. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
  6. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3079
  7. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  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 Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  12. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3080
  13. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  14. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli

Related etymologies

  • no · also from Latin
  • cosa · also from Latin
  • a · also from Latin
  • mio · also from Latin
  • uno · also from Latin
  • si · also from Latin
  • sapere · also from Latin
  • fare · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Primavera.” Etymologically, 10 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/it/primavera. Accessed 10 Nov. 2026.

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