Etymologically
Log in

registro

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Italian word registro

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1301
Borrowed from
Latin registrum
Ultimate origin
Latin gerō

Pronunciation

  • /reˈd͡ʒis.tro/[1]

Forms

registro m (plural registri)[1] Old Italian also had ligistro (Giovanni Villani), with the verb ligistrare.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Medieval Latin registrum.[4][5][6] The Medieval Latin noun, which seems to have been used first, around 600, for the collected letters of Gregory the Great, was formed with an inserted /r/ from Late Latin regesta (“things recorded”) (4th century, Vopiscus); the verb registrō (6th century) has the same /r/.[4][7][8] Devoto compares the ending with that of ginestra and inchiostro, and Wiktionary analyses the Medieval Latin noun as the Late Latin plural with the suffix -trum.[9][1] DEI notes the same change of ending in French registre (13th century) and German Register.[2]

The Late Latin plural is the neuter of the past participle of Latin regerō (“to carry back; to record”), which is gerō (“to carry”) with the prefix re-.[7][4] De Vaan derives the simple verb from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-es- (“to carry”), a view generally accepted since the laryngeal theory.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini dates the word to 1301, for a book in which data are collected.[7] DELI's first record is the legal sense, a book for recording acts or facts, in Giovanni Villani, before 1348, who tells of names “put in a secret register” (messo in segreto registro scritto).[4][3]

Semantic evolution

In music the word is recorded from 1521 (Cesare Cesariano) for a set of homogeneous sounds, and in the 17th century for the stops of an organ;[4][2] mutare registro, figuratively “to change one's manner”, is in Annibal Caro in 1558, and the now more usual cambiare registro is recorded in 1942.[4][2] The range of the human voice is called registro from 1680.[4]

Technical senses followed in 1804: a device for adjusting a mechanism, and in printing the exact alignment of several elements.[4] The public registry office, ufficio del registro, is recorded in 1872.[4] Linguistics uses the word for the level of style suited to a situation, and computing for a memory area inside the processor.[5][6]

Timeline

  • 1301 – Nocentini's date for registro.[7]
  • Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses the word and the form ligistro.[4][3]
  • 1521 – The musical sense is recorded.[4]
  • 1558 – Annibal Caro uses mutare registro.[4]
  • 1680 – The word names the range of a voice.[4]
  • 1804 – The mechanical and printing senses are recorded.[4]
  • 1872 – Ufficio pubblico del registro appears in Tommaseo's dictionary.[4]
  • 1942 – Cambiare registro is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A book or file in which acts and data are recorded in order, a register or ledger: Il cassiere annota ogni spesa nel registro.[5][11][6]
  2. (school) The book in which teachers record lessons, marks and absences: Il professore ha scritto un'altra nota sul registro di classe.[5][11][12]
  3. (law) A public record of legally relevant acts concerning persons and property; also the office that keeps it, the ufficio del registro.[5][12][6]
  4. (music) The range of a voice or instrument; a stop of an organ.[6][4][2]
  5. (linguistics) The level of style of speech or writing: un registro formale.[5][6]
  6. A device that regulates a mechanism, as in a watch or a carburettor.[6][12]
  7. (printing) The exact alignment of the elements printed on a sheet.[6][4]
  8. (computing) A memory area inside the processor.[6]

Word family

  • registrare
  • registratore
  • registrazione
  • registrabile
  • regesto
  • Latin registrum

Usage notes

Cambiare registro, or mutare registro, means to change one's tone or behaviour.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3224
  3. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  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 i Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  7. ^ a b c d 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, p. 15, 721
  9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  10. ^ 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 Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  12. ^ a b c 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

“Registro.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/registro. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·