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Etymology and origin of the Italian word stella

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
end of the 13th century, Novellino
Inherited from
Latin stella
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin stella
Italian stella
From the same root
Latin stello ← stella

Pronunciation

  • /ˈstel.la/[1]
  • Milan: /ˈstɛl.la/[1]

Forms

stella f (plural stelle)[1] Old and dialect forms include Old Italian stela and Old Italian stilla.[2] Some northern dialects have strella, strela, crossed with Latin astrum (“star”), as in Spanish estrella.[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin stēlla (“star”).[5][6][7][1] The word is panromance: French étoile, Occitan estela, Catalan estela, Spanish estrella, Sardinian isteddu, Romanian stea, Dalmatian stala and Romansh staila.[6][4] In Spanish the ⟨r⟩ comes from a cross with astrum.[4]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Italic *stērlā, a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr (“star”).[8][1] De Vaan reconstructs an Italo-Celtic formation with the suffix ⟨-lo-⟩ on the evidence of Old Irish sell (“iris of the eye”);[8][6] Nocentini starts instead from a form ⟨*stelna⟩.[8][6] The base is that of Old High German sterno (whence German Stern), English star, Breton sterenn and Hittite hašter-, while Ancient Greek ἀστήρ (astḗr) has the root form behind astro.[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the Novellino, at the end of the 13th century, for “a heavenly body shining with its own light, like the sun”: someone is taught “del corso delle stelle” (the course of the stars).[5][9] Among the GDLI's earliest quotations is Saint Francis's Canticle of the Creatures: “Laudato si, mi' Signore, per sora luna e le stelle” (praised be you, my Lord, for sister moon and the stars).[9]

Semantic evolution

Under the old belief that human affairs are ruled by the heavens, the word came to mean “destiny, fortune” in Petrarch, before 1374;[5][10] Dante writes “se tu segui tua stella, / non puoi fallire a glorioso porto” (if you follow your star, you cannot fail to reach a glorious harbour).[5][10] Petrarch also used it for a bright eye, Machiavelli for a protector or guide, and Tommaseo's dictionary (1873) records it for a beautiful or beloved woman.[5] From Sebastiano Serlio, before 1555, it names any star-shaped object.[5]

The theatrical sense “star performer” is a calque of English star, first found in 1856 in a translation of Walter Scott;[5][10][11] stellina “starlet” followed in 1935, and the racing yacht called Star in 1960.[5][10][11] The stella alpina (edelweiss) came into the standard language from the dialects of Trentino, Belluno and Friuli, replacing the Germanism edelvais.[5][12] Stella di mare (starfish, 18th century) translates the scientific asterias.[12] Today stars also grade hotels and restaurants, and stellette are the badge of the armed forces (1908).[10][5]

Timeline

  • 1293–1294 – Dante uses stellato “starry”.[5]
  • End of the 13th century – The Novellino uses stella.[5]
  • Before 1374 – Petrarch uses the word for “destiny” and for a bright eye.[5]
  • Before 1527 – Machiavelli uses it for a protector or guide.[5]
  • Before 1555 – Sebastiano Serlio uses it for a star-shaped object.[5]
  • 1856 – Stella “star performer” appears, after English star.[5]
  • 1935 – Stellina “starlet” is recorded.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (astronomy) A star, a heavenly body shining with its own light, a sphere of gas in which nuclear reactions take place: Il Sole è una stella di media grandezza.[7][13][10]
  2. Any bright point in the night sky, usually not the Sun or the Moon: Stanotte si vedono moltissime stelle.[7][14][15]
  3. A star-shaped figure or object: Ho ritagliato una stella di carta per l'albero.[7][10]
  4. A badge or emblem in the shape of a star; a star in the grading of hotels and restaurants: un albergo a quattro stelle.[7][10]
  5. destiny, fortune, as in nascere sotto una buona stella (to be born under a lucky star).[7][10][5]
  6. (figurative) A celebrity, a star of the cinema, theatre or sport: È diventata una stella del cinema.[10][11][5]
  7. A white patch on a horse's forehead.[7]
  8. The rowel of a spur.[7]

Word family

  • stellare
  • stellato
  • stellante
  • stelletta
  • stellina
  • stellone
  • stelloncino
  • costellazione
  • costellato
  • costellare

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include portare alle stelle (to praise to the skies), andare alle stelle (of prices: to soar), and stella cadente (shooting star).[7][14] DELI discusses vedere le stelle, “to see stars” from pain.[5] The GDLI has two minor homographs: a nautical stella, the rise of the floor timbers of a ship towards the keel and also a ship's wake, from Late Latin astella “splinter”, a variant of astula, diminutive of assis “board”, and an old dialect stella “stable”, a variant of stalla.[16] GRADIT has an obsolete technical stella (1583) as a synonym of stellatura.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  3. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  4. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 20, 121
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  11. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  12. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3625
  13. ^ 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 Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  16. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 20, 126

Related etymologies

  • no · also from Latin
  • cosa · also from Latin
  • a · also from Latin
  • mio · also from Latin
  • uno · also from Latin
  • si · also from Latin
  • sapere · also from Latin
  • fare · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Stella.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/stella. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·