sano

Forms

sano (feminine sana, masculine plural sani, feminine plural sane)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sānus (“healthy, sound”).^[2][3][4][5] The word is pan-Romance: French sain, Occitan sa, Catalan sa, Spanish sano, Portuguese são, Sardinian sanu, Friulian san and Romansh saun.^[3][6][7] Romanian sănătos, with Neapolitan saneluse and the Sardinian sanidosu of Campidano, goes back to a derivative Vulgar Latin *sānitōsus of sānitās (“health”).^[5]

Latin sānus comes from Proto-Italic *sānos, and its only possible relative is Umbrian sanes in Umbrian, an obscure word for certain sacrificial objects.^[8][3][9] Its further origin is uncertain.^[2][10][11] De Vaan sets up a purely mechanical Proto-Indo-European *seh₂-no- and suggests either the root Proto-Indo-European *seh₂- (“to tie”), giving “in place, in order”, or the root of Latin satis (“enough”), “satisfied”.^[8][1] Others compare Ancient Greek σῶς (sôs, “safe”) and German gesund (“healthy”) under Proto-Indo-European *swā-n-, while Nocentini sees the word as confined to Italic.^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the poems of Giacomo da Lentini, before 1250, in the sense “whole, not broken”.^[2][11] Folco di Calabria, of the same Sicilian school, already uses it of a person in health: Languiscie, stando sano, “he languishes while in good health”.^[12] Brunetto Latini, before 1294, is DELI's first witness for “free of illness”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From health the word extended to what shows or brings health: a healthy face (about 1340, in the translation of Palladius) and healthy air or food.^[2][4] Brunetto Latini also used it of moral soundness, “honest, upright”, a sense continued in sani principi.^[2][4] Iacopone da Todi has the noun il sano, a healthy person.^[2]

Of things the adjective means “undamaged, intact”, and in central and southern Italy “whole, entire”: a whole watermelon, a whole month.^[6][11][13] Meyer-Lübke explains this use, also Spanish, from the adverb Latin sānē, which already meant “wholly”.^[6] Prati gives sano “whole” for Pistoia, Siena, Pisa and Rome.^[14] The pair sano e salvo “safe and sound” goes back to Latin sanus ac salvus, which De Felice explains as a military formula for a soldier who came through unharmed.^[2] The proverb chi va piano va sano e va lontano, “slow and steady goes safe and far”, uses the word in its old sense of “unharmed”.^[15][13]

Timeline

• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses sano for “whole, unbroken”.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for “healthy” and “morally upright”.^[2]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi has il sano, a healthy person.^[2]
• About 1340 – The translation of Palladius uses it of a healthy appearance.^[2]
• 17th century – Paolo Segneri writes of giorni sani, whole days.^[5][14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. healthy, free of illness, in good physical and mental health: Il medico dice che il bambino è sano.^[4][15][16]
2. Of an organ or a fruit, not diseased or damaged: denti sani, polmoni perfettamente sani.^[4][11][16]
3. Showing good health: una carnagione sana.^[4][15][11]
4. Good for the health, wholesome: Qui l'aria è sana.^[4][15][16]
5. intact, not broken: Il pacco è arrivato sano.^[4][11][16]
6. (regional, central and southern Italy) Whole, entire: Ha mangiato una pizza sana.^[4][11][13]
7. (figurative) Morally sound, honest, upright: un ambiente di lavoro sano.^[4][11][16]

Noun

1. A healthy person: Il virus colpisce anche i sani..^[11][16]

Word family

• sanare
• sanità
• sanitario
• sanabile
• sanatoria
• sanatoriale
• insano
• insania
• rinsanire
• sanamente
• sanificare

Related words

• malsano
• Latin sanus

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include sano e salvo “safe and sound”, sano come un pesce “as fit as a fiddle”, sano di mente “of sound mind”, portatore sano “healthy carrier” and di sana pianta “from scratch, entirely”.^[4][11][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3333
6. ^ a b c 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 de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 386
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 17, 522
13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 871
15. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
16. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse