Etymologically
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russo

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Pronunciation

Forms

russo (feminine russa, masculine plural russi, feminine plural russe)[1] The 15th- and 16th-century Venetian and Florentine texts often have rosso, rossa, Rossia.[2][3]

Etymology

DELI derives it borrowed from Russian Русь (Rusʹ), the old name of the Rus', which it takes to be of Norse origin, a shortening of Old Norse róþsmenn (“rowers, seafarers”).[2][4][5] Nocentini instead takes it borrowed from French russe, from Russie, from Medieval Latin Russia, from Old East Slavic Русь (Rusĭ), the first state of Slavs and Vikings, founded at Kiev in the 9th century by Viking leaders.[6] Treccani starts from the Renaissance Latin ethnic name New Latin Russus.[7]

The Norse origin rests on old witnesses such as Liutprand of Cremona, who wrote “Rusios, quos alio nos nomine Nordmannos appellamus” (“the Rus', whom we call by another name Northmen”), but other hypotheses reject it.[2] Wikizionario cites the Finnish name of Sweden, Finnish Ruotsi, said to refer to rowers.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record DELI gives is the form rosso in the letters of Alessandra Macinghi Strozzi, before 1471.[2][6] She writes of slave girls: Le rosse, cioè quelle di Rossia, sono gentili di compressione e più belle (“the Russian ones, that is those from Russia, are of fine complexion and more beautiful”).[3] The form russo is in Marino Sanudo, before 1536.[2]

Semantic evolution

In the reports of Venetian ambassadors of the 16th century the rossi appear among the peoples bordering the Ottoman Empire, beside Muscovites and Tartars.[3] From the 20th century the word was often used loosely for the Soviet Union and its citizens.[4]

Many phrases name things thought to be Russian in origin: insalata russa, diced boiled vegetables in mayonnaise, montagne russe, the roller coaster, and roulette russa.[2][4][7] The verb russificare (1900) and the noun russificazione (1878) refer to imposing Russian language and culture.[6]

Timeline

  • Before 1471 – Alessandra Macinghi Strozzi writes rosse for Russian women.[2][3]
  • Before 1536 – Marino Sanudo uses russo.[2]
  • 1771 – GRADIT dates the modern word.[4]
  • 1878 – Russificazione is recorded.[6]
  • 1900 – Russificare is recorded.[6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Russian, of Russia, its people or its culture: il balletto russo.[4][9][10]
  2. (loosely) Of the Soviet Union.[4]

Noun

  1. A native or inhabitant of Russia.[4][9][10]
  2. (masculine, singular only) The Russian language, an East Slavic language written in Cyrillic: Ha imparato il russo in tre anni.[4][9][10]

Word family

  • russificare
  • russificazione
  • antirusso
  • russismo
  • russista
  • russistica
  • Russia
  • russare
  • French russe

Usage notes

A rare noun russo, “snoring”, is formed from russare and recorded from 1618.[4][5] Buonarroti the Younger and D'Annunzio use it.[11][12] The surname Russo, the second most common in Italy, is a separate word, from Sicilian russu “red-haired”.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 17, 268
  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. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, 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 Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  8. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
  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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 17, 269
  12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET