Etymologically
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serata

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Pronunciation

Forms

serata f (plural serate)[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian sera (“evening”) + -ata.[2][3][1] Körting reconstructs Vulgar Latin *sērāta, the source of French soirée.[4] The sense “evening party” follows the French word, recorded with this meaning in 1636.[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli dates the word to 1499.[7] DELI's first record is Benvenuto Cellini's autobiography, written before 1571: “I went on with these same difficulties for several evenings” (parecchi serate).[3][8]

Semantic evolution

From the 18th century writers used it for evenings spent in company: Parini recalls “charming evenings” with a witty girl, and Leopardi fears being bored “the whole evening” in society.[5] The sense “party or reception held in the evening” is recorded in the Milanese press in 1832.[3] Tommaseo accepted serate as a title for de Maistre's Soirées de Saint-Pétersbourg but not serata danzante for a dance.[8]

In the theatre a serata was a performance given for the benefit of an actor or singer, also called serata d'onore; the actor so honoured was the seratante, a word recorded in 1877.[9] Television divides the evening into prima serata, roughly 8.30 to 10.30 pm, and seconda serata, after that.[10][5]

Timeline

  • 1499 – Zingarelli's date of first record.[7]
  • Before 1571 – Benvenuto Cellini uses serate in his autobiography.[3]
  • 1832 – The sense “evening party” appears in the Milanese press.[3]
  • 1877 – Seratante, the beneficiary of a benefit night, is recorded.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. evening, with regard to its weather or length: Era una serata limpida e fresca.[2][10][11]
  2. The evening as a time one spends in some way: Abbiamo passato la serata a giocare a carte.[2][10][7]
  3. A party, reception or show held in the evening: serata di gala.[2][11][7]
  4. (television) Each of the evening time slots: prima serata, seconda serata.[10][7][6]
  5. (theatre, historical) A benefit performance for an actor: serata d'onore.[7][10][9]

Word family

  • serataccia
  • seratante
  • seratina

Usage notes

In serata means “in the course of the evening, later today”.[7][6][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  5. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  6. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  8. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  9. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 910
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli