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saluto

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word saluto

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
before 1292, Bono Giamboni
Ultimate origin
Latin salūs
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin salutaris
Italian salutare
Italian saluto

Pronunciation

Forms

saluto m (plural saluti)[1] Old forms include saludo and salùo.[2]

Etymology

It is from Italian salutare (“to greet”), a noun formed from the verb without a suffix.[3][4][5][6][7] The verb is Latin salūtō (“to greet; to pay a visit”), from salūs (“health; safety; greeting”), which also gave salute.[8][1]

The same formation is found in Friulian salût, French salut, Occitan salut and Catalan salut, and in Romanian sărut, which means “kiss”.[9][10] In Romanian the verb săruta has also come to mean “to kiss”, as Old Spanish saludar sometimes did.[9][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Bono Giamboni's Libro de' vizî e delle virtudi, before 1292, for the act of greeting, the words or gestures that show someone respect, friendship or affection.[11] Giamboni's translation of Latini's Tesoro tells of a man whose greeting the angel would not return.[2][12]

Semantic evolution

In the poetry of the dolce stil novo the lady's greeting is a central theme: Guinizelli's lo vostro bel saluto e ’l gentil sguardo “your fair greeting and your gentle look” kills the lover, and in the Vita nuova Dante says the aim of his love was once the greeting of Beatrice.[2] The plural saluti in polite formulas and at the end of letters is dated from Gasparo Gozzi, before 1786, and the sense “short formal speech at a public meeting” from 1922.[11]

Tommaseo records an ironic use for unwelcome news or a blow.[12] The military salute and the saluto romano, the raised arm that was compulsory under Fascism, are modern ritual forms.[13][14]

Timeline

  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses the word.[11]
  • About 1290–1293 – Dante writes of Beatrice's greeting in the Vita nuova.[2]
  • Before 1786 – Gasparo Gozzi uses saluti as a letter formula.[11]
  • 1922 – The sense “short formal speech” is recorded.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A greeting: a word or gesture, such as a handshake, a wave or a kiss, made to someone on meeting or parting, to show friendship, respect or affection: Mi ha fatto un cenno di saluto dall'altra parte della piazza.[3][4][5]
  2. (chiefly plural) regards: a polite formula, especially at the end of a letter or card: cordiali saluti, distinti saluti.[3][5][13]
  3. A mark of homage or respect, especially at an official ceremony, and a short formal speech of welcome: il saluto del sindaco agli ospiti.[3][4][13]
  4. (military) A salute, made in the way regulations prescribe.[14][13][1]

Word family

  • salutino
  • salutissimo

Usage notes

Togliere or levare il saluto a qualcuno is to stop greeting someone, to break off relations.[13][14] Tanti saluti! can be used ironically to cut a conversation short or to say that something is lost for good.[3][4][13] The GDLI also records two rare old homographs: saluto “salvation”, formed from Latin salūs, and saluto “spiritual ascent”, from salire.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  3. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  4. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  6. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3325
  7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  11. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  13. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  14. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
Cite this entry

“Saluto.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/saluto. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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