regola

Forms

regola f (plural regole)^[1] Old Italian also wrote regula.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin rēgula (“straight stick, ruler; rule”), a learned or semi-learned word.^[5][6][7][1] The Latin noun is formed from regō (“to guide straight, rule”) with a diminutive suffix.^[6][1][8] It first meant a straight bar of wood or metal, then a rule of conduct in the moral sense, matching Ancient Greek κανών (kanṓn).^[5][9][10]

The popular outcomes of the Latin word kept the concrete sense of a bar: Lombard rega “iron for barrel hoops”, Logudorese “reya” “honeycomb”, Occitan relha “lever”, Spanish reja “grille” and Portuguese relha “ploughshare”.^[11][12] The abstract “rule” came back in learned forms: French règle, Spanish regla and Portuguese regra.^[11][6][1] English rule comes from Old French rieule.^[6]

Several derivatives took their senses from French: regolamento in the sense “ordinance” after French règlement, regolamentare after réglementaire, and regolarizzare after régulariser (1794).^[5] The verb regolare seems to be a Romance formation, although a rare Late Latin regulāre existed in the 5th century (Caelius Aurelianus).^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the rule of a religious order, the norms by which its founder governs the life of the community, before 1292 in Bono Giamboni.^[5] GRADIT dates the first record to the second half of the 13th century.^[7] Dante uses the word for “measure, manner” (1300–1313): the rain of the third circle of Hell has a “regola e qualità” that never changes.^[5][13]

Semantic evolution

The sense “precept, norm of what one should do” is recorded before 1311 in Giordano da Pisa, a norm drawn from experience or custom in 1354 in Iacopo Passavanti, the orderly course of events before 1519 in Leonardo, and a method for solving problems before 1642 in Galileo's “rule of three”.^[5] The plural regole “menstruation” is recorded before 1711 in Giovanni Battista Morgagni and is still popular usage.^[5][7]

In the lands of the old Venetian Republic, Trentino and Cadore a regola was a rural community holding pastures in common, and Medieval Latin regula had this sense at Padua from the 13th century.^[14][15][11] In Tuscany and at Tarquinia in Lazio regola is also the wooden rattle of Holy Week.^[16]

Many fixed phrases are built on the word: di regola “as a rule”, in regola “in order”, a regola d'arte “expertly”, avere le carte in regola “to have the right qualifications”, and the proverb l'eccezione conferma la regola.^[7][17][10]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses regola for the rule of a religious order.^[5]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses it for “measure, manner”.^[5]
• Before 1311 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for “precept”.^[5]
• 1354 – Iacopo Passavanti uses it for a norm drawn from experience.^[5]
• 1452 – Regola as a rural community in the Veneto.^[15]
• Before 1519 – Leonardo uses it for the orderly course of events.^[5]
• Before 1642 – Galileo writes of the regola del tre.^[5]
• Before 1711 – Morgagni uses the plural for “menstruation”.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The constant order seen in a series of events: Questi fenomeni si ripetono senza alcuna regola.^[7][9][17]
2. A rule, a precept prescribing how to act in a given case or activity, based on experience or convention: Le regole del gioco valgono per tutti.^{[7][9][18][1]}
3. (linguistics) A norm of correct usage: le regole della grammatica.^[7][10]
4. A practical method for solving problems or doing calculations: la regola del tre.^[7][5][10]
5. The rule of a religious order, and the text that sets it out: la regola benedettina.^[7][18]
6. moderation, restraint: Mangia senza regola.^[7][18][1]
7. The normal, usual state of things: Qui i ritardi sono ormai la regola.^[7][17]
8. (popular, in the plural) menstruation.^[7][1]
9. (regional, historical) In the old Venetian territories, Trentino and Cadore, a minor territorial unit, a community holding common land.^[7][15][14]

Word family

• regolare
• regolamento
• regolamentare
• regolarità
• regolarizzare
• regolatore
• regolazione
• regolabile
• irregolare
• sregolato

Related words

• reggere
• Latin rēgula
• French règle

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 15, 731
3. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
4. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
11. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3224
15. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
16. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Marcato, Carla (1998), I dialetti italiani: dizionario etimologico, Torino: UTET
17. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
18. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse