Etymologically
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rosso

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Pronunciation

Forms

rosso (feminine rossa, masculine plural rossi, feminine plural rosse)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin russus (“red, red-haired”).[2][3][4][1] In Italy this word won out over classical rubeus, from the same root, as the ordinary name of the colour, while its derivative russeus, already in Petronius, lives on in southern dialects.[2][5] The same Latin word is French roux, Occitan ros, Catalan ros, Friulian ros and Romanian rus (“reddish blond”); Spanish rojo, Portuguese roxo and Romanian roșu continue the derivative.[3][6][7] It also passed into Byzantine Greek and Serbo-Croatian.[8][6]

The Latin adjective is built on the root of ruber (“red”), and so is related to rubro and rufo.[3][9][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *rutsto- beside *ruþro- and the root as Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ- (“red”), the root also of Ancient Greek ἐρυθρός (eruthrós, “red”).[10][1] Devoto compared the Germanic word for red, German rot.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record of the adjective is in Dante's Convivio (1304–1308), for the colour of blood, purple or ruby; the noun “the colour red” follows in the Commedia.[2] In the Inferno Dante sees a purse “come sangue rossa” (red as blood).[11] Northern forms appear earlier: Giacomino da Verona speaks of destreri russi (bay war-horses).[11]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also had roso, roscio and russo.[11] Boccaccio describes Friar Cipolla as small “di pelo rosso” (red-haired), and the noun rosso for a red-haired person is recorded before 1353.[12][2] The noun rosso d'uovo “egg yolk” is Florentine and recorded from 1567.[8][13] Many derivatives are old: rosseggiare and rossore are in Dante, rossetto in Brunetto Latini, and rossetto as a cosmetic appears in 1628.[2]

The political sense goes back to the French Revolution, when the red flag and the red cap became signs of revolt.[2] In Italian rosso for a radical is recorded in 1851, and the adjective for socialist administrations in 1922.[2] Armata rossa is a calque of Russian Krasnaja Armija, and a luci rosse “pornographic” follows English red light.[2][14]

Timeline

  • Before 1294 – Rossetto “reddish” is used by Brunetto Latini.[2]
  • 1300–1313 – The noun “the colour red” appears in the Commedia.[2]
  • 1304–1308 – Dante uses rosso in the Convivio.[2]
  • Before 1353 – Rosso is used for a red-haired person.[2]
  • 1567 – Rosso “egg yolk” is recorded at Florence.[8]
  • 1628 – Rossetto is recorded as a cosmetic.[2]
  • 1851 – Rosso is used for a member of the radical party.[2]
  • 1922 – Marino Moretti calls socialist administrations rossi.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. red, of the colour of blood, ripe tomatoes or poppies: Ha comprato una macchina rossa.[4][14][15][1]
  2. Flushed, red in the face, from emotion, effort or the sun: diventare rosso, to blush.[4][16][17]
  3. Of the eyes, reddened from crying or tiredness.[4][16]
  4. Of hair, red, ginger: capelli rossi.[4][1]
  5. Of a dish, made with tomato: pizza rossa.[4]
  6. (politics) Left-wing, socialist or communist: le regioni rosse.[4][15][16]
  7. (finance) Showing a loss: numeri rossi.[15][18]

Noun

  1. The colour red: il rosso del tramonto.[15][18][1]
  2. Red wine: Ordiniamo una bottiglia di rosso della casa..[15]
  3. A red-haired person.[15][2]
  4. A socialist or communist.[4][15][1]
  5. A red pigment or dye.[2][16][1]
  6. (colloquial) The yolk of an egg.[18][8]
  7. The red light of traffic lights; red in roulette.[18][19]

Word family

  • rossastro
  • rossiccio
  • rosseggiare
  • rossetto
  • rossore
  • rossezza
  • arrossire
  • arrossare
  • infrarosso
  • rossola
  • rossoblù
  • rossonero
  • rubro
  • rufo
  • Latin russus
  • Latin ruber
  • French roux

Usage notes

The proverb rosso di sera, bel tempo si spera says that a red sunset promises fine weather.[16][18] Other fixed phrases are vedere rosso “to see red”, essere in rosso “to be in the red” and filo rosso “common thread”.[16][18][17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
  6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  8. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3286
  9. ^ a b 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 c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 17, 115
  12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  13. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 853
  14. ^ 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
  15. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  16. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  17. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  18. ^ a b c d e f Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  19. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org