Etymologically
Log in

ricordo

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 21 October 2026 at 19:20. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /riˈkɔr.do/[1]

Forms

ricordo m (plural ricordi)[1] Old forms include Old Italian recordo, Old Italian racordo and Old Italian ricuordo.[2]

Etymology

It is a noun formed from Italian ricordare + -o, from the verb meaning “to remember”.[3][4][1][5] GDLI rejects an earlier record in the 13th-century poet Pannuccio del Bagno as too early to be credible.[2] Compare Sicilian rigordu.[1]

The verb is a learned word from Latin recordor (“to call to mind”), formed from cor (“heart”) (genitive ⟨cordis⟩) with the prefix re-, since the heart was held to be the seat of memory: properly “to put back into the heart”.[3][6][4] It has parallels in Old French recorder, Spanish recordar and Portuguese recordar.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's earliest record is the phrase essere ai ricordi “to be present in someone's memory”, in a document of 1306 from Pomarance, near Volterra.[3] The noun alone, “the act of recalling”, is in Domenico Cavalca before 1342;[3][2] GDLI quotes him: “nullo ricordo e sentimento v'ho” (I have no memory or feeling of it).[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Matteo Villani, before 1363, uses the word for an oral or written tradition, especially of historical events.[3] The sense “something that serves as a reminder, keepsake” is in Angelo Poliziano before 1494, “the thing remembered” in Carlo Tenca before 1883, and “memory of people or events of the past” in Petrocchi's dictionary in 1891.[3] Tommaseo–Bellini records the mark that an illness leaves behind, and Zingarelli an obsolete sense “advice, warning”, quoting Ariosto.[7][8]

The diminutive ricordino meant a small ring given as a token of affection (before 1767), and later a card with a holy picture, printed in memory of a dead person or of a ceremony (1963).[3] English took ricordo in 1926, and in 1974 used it in art for a painter's copy of another painter's work.[9]

Timeline

  • 1306 – A document from Pomarance has essere ai ricordi.[3]
  • Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses ricordo for the act of recalling.[3]
  • Before 1363 – Matteo Villani uses it for a historical tradition.[3]
  • Before 1494 – Angelo Poliziano uses it for a keepsake.[3][9]
  • Before 1767 – ricordino is recorded for a small ring.[3]
  • 1891 – Petrocchi records the sense “memory of the past”.[3]
  • 1926 – English ricordo is first recorded.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act of remembering or of being remembered; remembrance: Sorrise al ricordo di quella vacanza.[4][10][8]
  2. A memory, something remembered; an image of past people or things kept in the mind: È uno dei miei primi ricordi.[4][11][12]
  3. The memory of facts or people kept by later generations.[4][8][12]
  4. A keepsake or souvenir, an object that keeps the memory of someone or something alive: Mi ha lasciato la sua penna per ricordo.[4][10][12]
  5. A written note made to remember something.[4][8]
  6. (by extension) A mark left by an event, usually an unpleasant one, such as a scar.[4][10][12]
  7. (chiefly in the plural) Monuments and remains of the past.[12][13]

Adjective

  1. (invariable, after a noun) Commemorative, serving as a reminder: foto ricordo, francobollo ricordo.[4][12]

Word family

  • ricordino

Usage notes

Per ricordo and in ricordo di mean “as a keepsake” and “in memory of”, and a perenne ricordo is a formula of memorial plaques.[11][12] The same spelling is the first person singular present of ricordare.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 16, 147
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 370
  6. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  8. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  9. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  10. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  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 d e f g Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  14. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org