Etymologically
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serio

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Pronunciation

Forms

serio (feminine seria, masculine plural seri, feminine plural serie, superlative serissimo)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sērius (“grave, earnest”), a learned word.[2][3][4][5] The sources date it differently: Zingarelli to 1499, GRADIT to 1551, Nocentini and Devoto–Oli to the middle of the 16th century, while the earliest text DELI cites is by Sforza Pallavicino (before 1667), as are DEI's and Prati's.[6][7][3][8][2][9] In Latin the adjective was said above all of things.[3]

The Latin derivative Late Latin serietas gave serietà, and Late Latin seriosus gave the older serioso, which is also the source of French sérieux: French uses the derivative, whereas Spanish serio is the same learned word as the Italian.[3][9]

The further origin of the Latin word is disputed.[10][1] Most sources compare Old High German swāri (“heavy”) (modern German schwer), Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌴𐍂𐍃 (swērs, “honoured”) and Lithuanian svarùs (“heavy”), from a root Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“heavy”), so that the first meaning was “weighty”.[3][11][1][12][4] De Vaan objects that such a root should have kept its /w/ in Latin and suggests instead a derivative of sērus (“slow, late”), with a shift from “slow” through “tiring” to “heavy”.[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli and GRADIT date the first record to 1499 and 1551 without naming a text.[6][7] The earliest quotation in DELI is from Sforza Pallavicino (before 1667), of a person who acts with careful thought and awareness of duty, and Pallavicino also speaks of serii discorsi, grave and considered talk.[2][13]

Semantic evolution

The sense “stern, frowning, gloomy” is recorded in Giovanni Battista Casti in 1802, and “important, grave, dangerous” in Melchiorre Cesarotti before 1808.[2] The nominalised il serio, “seriousness”, appears in Anton Maria Salvini in the 18th century.[4][13] Writers from Fagiuoli to Cavour and Carducci use it of a reliable, responsible person, and of a businessman who keeps his commitments.[5]

In music and literature serio describes a work without comic parts, as in opera seria, the counterpart of opera buffa.[6][14][15] German took serio as a musical direction by 1879.[15] Modern Italian also uses it of a woman of strict sexual morals, and the locutions sul serio “really” and prendere sul serio “take seriously” are among its most frequent uses.[6][16][7]

Timeline

  • 1499 – First record according to Zingarelli.[6]
  • 1551 – First record according to GRADIT.[7]
  • Before 1667 – Sforza Pallavicino uses serio of a person and of talk.[2][13]
  • 1673 – Paolo Segneri has serietà.[2]
  • 18th century – Anton Maria Salvini uses il serio as a noun.[4]
  • 1802 – Giovanni Battista Casti uses it for “stern, gloomy”.[2]
  • Before 1808 – Melchiorre Cesarotti uses it for “grave, dangerous”.[2]
  • 1822 – The musical sense, of a work in elevated style, is recorded.[15]
  • 1879 – German serio is first recorded as a musical term.[15]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Responsible, conscientious and reliable: È un idraulico serio, arriva sempre puntuale.[7][8][17][6]
  2. (of a woman, dated) Of strict morals, respectable.[8][6][16]
  3. Grave, thoughtful or worried in expression, unsmiling: Perché sei così serio stamattina?[7][8][6]
  4. Important and demanding, or sincere and deep: Per lui è un impegno serio.[7][8][16]
  5. Worrying, dangerous: Il medico dice che l'infezione è seria.[7][8][17]
  6. (music, literature) Without comic parts: opera seria.[6][14]

Noun

  1. What is serious: tra il serio e il faceto, half in jest.[7][16]
  2. sul serio: really, in earnest: Parti sul serio domani?[6][16][8]

Word family

Usage notes

DEI lists a separate Tuscan adjective serio, usually repeated, meaning “plain, pure”, from the 18th century (Fagiuoli), which it derives from screare.[18] The river Serio in Lombardy has a different origin, Latin Sarius.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3460
  5. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 18, 727
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 911
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  14. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  15. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  16. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  17. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  18. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3425