pubblico

Forms

pubblico (feminine pubblica, masculine plural pubblici, feminine plural pubbliche)^[1] Old Italian also had the inherited form Old Italian piuvico, and dialects have forms such as Venetian pjövego and Neapolitan prubbeke.^[2][3][1] The literary spelling is publico.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin pūblicus (“of the people or the state”), a learned word.^[2][6][7][1] The popular Old Tuscan form Old Italian piuvico, recorded in the 13th century, is the inherited doublet.^[5][3][1] The ⟨bb⟩ of the Italian word is the strengthening of a consonant after the stressed vowel in words stressed on the third-last syllable.^[2][8] French public and Spanish público are the same learned word.^[6]

The Latin adjective was originally the older form poplicus, derived from populus (“people”), and took its long vowel from pūbēs (“adult population”), with which it was associated.^[9][6][8] De Vaan derives populus from Proto-Italic *poplo- (“army”), whose origin is unknown.^[9]

Several modern phrases are calques: the terms for public law and public order copy French droit public (1786) and ordre public (1764–1765), and the term for public relations copies public relations.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The inherited form piuvico is recorded in Fra Guidotto between 1254 and 1266, and pubblico in Brunetto Latini (before 1294), for what concerns a whole community.^[2] His Rettorica explains that public questions are those that deal with the welfare of a city or a community of people.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio uses the adjective in 1353 for what everyone knows and judges, as in pubblico scandalo.^[2][7] As a noun, il pubblico first meant the state or the commune, as in Machiavelli and Vincenzo Borghini, then the people in general.^[11][12] Daniello Bartoli in 1659 used it for a crowd, and in the 18th century it came to mean the readers of a book or the audience of a show, a sense DELI dates to Lorenzo Pascoli (1730–1736) and DEI compares with French public.^[11][2]

Many derivatives came through French: pubblicità “publicity, advertising” and pubblicista “journalist”.^[2][6] The verb pubblicare “to make public” goes back to the first half of the 13th century, and in Boccaccio already means “to publish” a written work.^[2]

Timeline

• 1254–1266 – Fra Guidotto uses the inherited form piuvico.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses pubblico.^[2][7]
• 1353 – Boccaccio uses it for what is known to everyone.^[2]
• 1659 – Daniello Bartoli uses the noun for a crowd.^[11]
• 1730–1736 – Lorenzo Pascoli uses the noun for the public as a body of people.^[2]
• 1786 – French droit public gives Italian diritto pubblico.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. public: concerning the whole community: l'interesse pubblico, la salute pubblica.^[7][4][5]
2. Of the state or a public body, as opposed to private: la scuola pubblica, un pubblico ufficiale.^[7][5][13]
3. Open to everyone, belonging to the community: un giardino pubblico, trasporti pubblici.^[7][5]
4. Done in front of everyone; known to all: una lettura pubblica, di pubblico dominio.^[7][5][13]

Noun

1. The public, people in general: Il museo è aperto al pubblico la domenica, in pubblico, in front of other people.^[7][4][5]
2. An audience, the spectators, listeners or readers: Il pubblico ha applaudito a lungo.^[7][4][5][1]
3. (archaic) The state treasury, public property.^[4][5]

Word family

• pubblicare
• pubblicazione
• pubblicità
• pubblicitario
• pubblicista
• pubblicano
• pubblicamente

Related words

• piuvico
• popolo
• pube
• Latin pūblicus

Usage notes

Common phrases include opinione pubblica, ordine pubblico, Pubblico Ministero (the public prosecutor) and pubblica amministrazione.^[13][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3137
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli