romano

Forms

romano (feminine romana, masculine plural romani, feminine plural romane)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin Rōmānus (“Roman”),^[2][3] the adjective of Rōma (“Rome”).^[4][5][6] The Latin word continues popularly in French romain and Spanish romano, and in Romanian romîn (“Romanian”), while the Romanian ⟨roman⟩ “Roman” is learned.^[5] Meyer-Lübke notes that the Romanian word once also meant a servant, a serf or a peasant.^[7]

According to Nocentini, the Latin adjective first meant a citizen of Rome, then, as citizenship spread, the free inhabitants of the Empire; at the end of the Western Empire it took an ethnic and linguistic sense, opposed to the Germanic peoples, which the descendants of the colonists of Dacia kept as their national name.^[5] Its derivative Rōmānicus, “in the Roman manner”, lives on in romanzo and romancio.^[5][4]

The origin of the name of the city is uncertain.^[1] Devoto explained it as “the city of the river ⟨Rumon⟩”, an old name of the Tiber;^[8] Wiktionary gives the same idea, tracing the river name to Proto-Indo-European *srew- (“to flow”), and treats the derivation from Rōmulus as a folk etymology.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is late 12th-century, in the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio, for modern Rome.^[4][6] The GDLI quotes the line de lu sanctu patriciu romano (“of the holy Roman patrician”).^[3] The sense “of ancient Rome” is recorded at the end of the 13th century, in the Novellino.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Next to romano the adjective romanesco appeared in the early 14th century (Cenne della Chitarra); Aretino in 1536 distinguished a romano by birth from a romanesco by residence, and romanesco later became the name of the dialect of Rome.^[4] Numeri romani and the sense “of the Roman Church” are recorded in 1804.^[4]

In 1824 de Caumont proposed architecture romane for the style before the 12th century, as the languages of that age were already called romanes;^[4] Italian romanico followed.^[4] The modern alla romana, as in pagare alla romana, each paying an equal share, is said to come from a custom of Rome, though DELI wonders whether it goes back to the steelyard, which balances weights.^[4][2] In typography carattere romano is upright type, and saluto romano the raised-arm salute taken up by Fascism.^[9][10] English took Romano for the hard sheep's-milk cheese in 1908.^[11]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – The Ritmo di Sant'Alessio uses romano for modern Rome.^[4]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses it for ancient Rome.^[4]
• Early 14th century – Romanesco appears in Cenne della Chitarra.^[4]
• 1804 – Numeri romani and romano “of the Roman Church” are recorded.^[4]
• 1824 – De Caumont names the architecture romane.^[4]
• 1908 – English Romano “Romano cheese” is recorded.^[11]
• 1942 – Romanista is recorded for a fan of the Roma football club.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of ancient Rome: l'impero romano, i numeri romani.^{[6][12][2][13]}
2. Of modern Rome: Abbiamo mangiato in una trattoria romana.^[6][12][13]
3. Of the Roman Catholic Church, which has its seat in Rome: il rito romano.^[6][2][13]
4. (typography) roman, upright: carattere romano.^[12][2][9]

Noun

1. A citizen of ancient Rome, or one who held Roman citizenship.^[6][13][10]
2. A native or inhabitant of modern Rome: romano di Roma, a Roman of long-standing Roman family.^[6][2][10]
3. (singular) The dialect of Rome, romanesco.^[13][9][10]

Word family

• romanesco
• romanità
• romanista
• romanistica
• romanismo
• romanico
• romanizzare
• romanizzazione
• romanamente
• preromano

Related words

• Roma
• romanzo
• romancio
• Latin Rōmānus
• French romain

Usage notes

Romano is also the counterweight that slides along the arm of a steelyard, recorded from 1279 in Pisan accounts;^[4] Galileo wrote that the small counterweight was commonly called romano.^[4] DELI, GRADIT and the Zingarelli derive it from Arabic رُمَّان (rummān, “pomegranate”), from the shape of the weight, but Mosino and Nocentini prefer a Romance origin from romana “steelyard”, short for bilancia romana, beside French romaine and Spanish romana.^[4][6][2][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 17, 37
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
10. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
11. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse