stellare

Forms

stellare (plural stellari)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Late Latin stēllāris (“of stars”), recorded in Macrobius, from Latin stēlla (“star”).^[2][3][4][5] The Latin noun comes from Proto-Italic *stērlā- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂stēr- (“star”); with Old Irish sell (“iris”) it points to an Italo-Celtic formation for “star”.^[6] The inherited word is stella.^[2]

Gabrielli takes the sense “of outer space” as a calque of stellar.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Varchi, who died in 1565, in the sense “of a star, of the stars”; he speaks of a heat called “ora celeste e ora stellare” (now heavenly and now stellar).^[8][9] DEI, Zingarelli and Sabatini date the word to the 14th century, from a translation of the Declamations ascribed to Quintilian quoted in the dictionaries, which DELI could not verify.^{[8][5][10][11]}

Semantic evolution

Tommaseo records luce stellare, astronomia stellare and catalogo stellare, and the sense “star-shaped”, of crystals radiating from a centre (1873).^[11][8] Astronomy made it a technical adjective for the properties of stars: magnitudine stellare, ammasso stellare, evoluzione stellare.^[12][10] In 1960 the motore stellare, a radial engine with its cylinders set round the shaft, is recorded.^[8]

In journalism stellare came to mean “of outer space”, as in guerre stellari and scudo stellare, for space weapons.^[10][4] Figuratively it now means huge or exorbitant, as in prezzi stellari, or superb.^[10][3] DEI notes that the learned word passed with astronomy into English as stellar (1656).^[5]

Timeline

• 14th century – DEI and Zingarelli date the adjective to a translation of the pseudo-Quintilian Declamations, a record DELI could not check.^[5][10]
• Before 1565 – Varchi uses stellare.^[8]
• 1656 – English stellar, according to DEI.^[5]
• 1873 – Stellare “star-shaped” is recorded by Tommaseo.^[8]
• 1960 – The radial engine, motore stellare, is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a star or of stars: luce stellare, ammasso stellare.^[13][4][3]
2. Of outer space: guerre stellari.^[13][4]
3. Star-shaped, radial: una città a pianta stellare.^[13][4][3]
4. (mechanics) Of an engine, having its cylinders arranged radially: motore stellare.^[10][3]
5. (figurative) Enormous, astronomical; also superb: Per quella casa chiedono un prezzo stellare.^[13][3][10]

Word family

• stellarmente
• interstellare

Related words

• stella
• stellato
• Latin stellaris

Usage notes

A separate verb stellare, recorded from the 14th century and now literary or rare, means to adorn or strew with stars, and stellarsi to fill with stars; it is from Latin stellō.^{[13][3][4][1]} Pascoli wrote of daisies that “stellano la roccia” (star the rock).^[4]

A nautical stellare, recorded from 1889, means to give the ribs of a hull their tapering shape;^{[13][14][1][15][16]} GRADIT, Treccani and Wiktionary derive it from dialect stella “splinter”, from Late Latin astella, while GDLI derives it from stella.^{[13][14][1][15][16]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3626
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
8. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 20, 126
10. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ 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, 127
16. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 1907