silenzio

Forms

silenzio m (plural silenzi)^[1] Old Italian also had silenzo (Jacopone, Fra Giordano), scilenzio, silencio and silensio, and a feminine plural le silenzia.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin silentium (“silence”), a learned word.^[4][5][6][1] The Latin noun is formed from silēns (“silent”), the present participle of sileō (“to be silent”).^[4][7][8][9] De Vaan derives the verb from an adjective Proto-Italic *silo- (“quiet”) and Proto-Indo-European *sh₁/₂i-ló- (“silent”), perhaps related to Latin sinō (“to let”), with a sense “to come to rest”;^[10] Germanic has a root Proto-Germanic *sil- (“quiet”) of the same shape.^[10] Nocentini instead sees an imitative base, the sound “sss!” that commands silence, and compares Ancient Greek σιγάω (sigáō, “to be silent”) and Old High German swīgēn (“to be silent”).^[5] Devoto too compares the Germanic and Greek words.^[11]

The learned word is also French silence, recorded from the 12th century, and Spanish silencio.^[5][3] Körting notes that it is a learned word everywhere.^[12] The adjective silenzioso came through French silencieux, and silenziare and silenziatore probably copy English silence and silencer.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Jacopone da Todi, before 1306, for the complete absence of sounds and voices;^[4][3] Jacopone wrote it silènzo.^[4][3] Fra Giordano glossed the Latin factum est silentium in coelo as a half-hour of silenzo in heaven.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the absence of sound the word passed to the act of not speaking, and to a time without talk;^[6][13][3] Giovanni Villani used it for a pause.^[6][13][3] Petrarch wrote that a silence, a solitary dread of a shady wood (un silenzio, un solitario orrore / d'ombrosa selva), had rarely pleased him so much.^[2] DELI dates “failure to write letters” to Guidiccioni, before 1541, the monastic rule of silence to Manzoni's Fermo e Lucia (1821–1823) and the bugle call that orders silence for the night in barracks to 1824.^[4]

Modern Italian also uses it for keeping something quiet or forgetting it (passare sotto silenzio), and in law silenzio assenso is the principle that an administration's failure to answer counts as approval.^[6][14][7] Other phrases are silenzio stampa and silenzio radio, radio silence in military or police operations.^[6][15] As an interjection silenzio! orders people to be quiet.^[1][15]

Timeline

• Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses silènzo.^[4]
• Before 1541 – Guidiccioni uses it for not writing letters.^[4]
• 1533 – An isolated silentioso is recorded.^[4]
• 1821–1823 – Manzoni uses it for the monastic rule of silence.^[4]
• 1824 – It is recorded for the bugle call in barracks.^[4]
• 1913 – Silenziatore is recorded for an exhaust silencer.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. silence, the complete absence of sounds and voices: Nel bosco regnava un silenzio profondo.^[6][13][14]
2. quiet, peace: Ho bisogno di un po' di silenzio per studiare.^[6][7]
3. The act of not speaking, and a time without speech: Dopo la notizia ci fu un lungo silenzio.^[6][13][8]
4. Not writing or giving news; a period when an artist does not produce work.^[6][14][7]
5. Keeping a fact secret; oblivion.^[6][14][7]
6. (military) The rule of quiet at night in barracks and colleges, and the bugle call that announces it.^[13][14][8]
7. (religion) The monastic rule that forbids talking at certain times.^[13][14]

Interjection

1. Quiet!, be silent!^[1][15][13]

Word family

• silenzioso
• silenziare
• silenziatore
• silenziosità
• silenziario

Related words

• silente
• Latin silentium
• French silence

Usage notes

Fare silenzio means “to be quiet”, rompere il silenzio “to be the first to speak” and ridurre al silenzio “to silence”, of an opponent or of enemy guns.^[13][15][8] A silenzio di tomba is total silence.^[7][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3494
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e f Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
8. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
13. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli