tesoro

Forms

tesoro m (plural tesori)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin thēsaurus (“treasure; storehouse”),^[2][3][4][1] borrowed from Ancient Greek θησαυρός (thēsaurós, “store, storehouse; treasure”).^[2][3][5] DEI calls it a semi-learned word.^[6] In it the Latin diphthong /au/ became /o/, while the latinizing tesauro keeps it.^[7] The Latin word also gave French trésor, Occitan tezaur, Catalan tresor, Spanish tesoro and Portuguese tesouro,^[3][8] and was borrowed as Old High German treso.^[8] The /r/ after the first consonant of the French and Catalan forms (also in Old Venetian and Old Spanish ⟨tresoro⟩) anticipates the later /r/, according to Niedermann, quoted by Meyer-Lübke, while Körting thinks of popular etymology.^[8][9] Latin also wrote ⟨thensaurus⟩.^[5]

The origin of the Greek word is obscure, perhaps a loan from another language, according to DELI.^[2] Nocentini derives it from the root of Ancient Greek τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put, place”), and DEI calls it a relic of the pre-Greek substrate.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Brunetto Latini, who died in 1294, for a large quantity of money.^[2][4] The sense “precious things hidden or buried, whose owner cannot be proved” is in Dante's Convivio (1304–1308), and in Giordano da Pisa in 1305 beside tesauro.^[2] GDLI quotes Dante: “lo tesoro è nascosto” (the treasure is hidden).^[10]

Semantic evolution

Figurative senses came early: Dante already uses the word for a dearly loved person or thing (1293–1294), for spiritual riches (before 1321) and for an encyclopaedic work (1300–1313), the genre of Brunetto Latini's Tresor and Tesoretto.^[2] Petrarch calls a person his treasure.^[6][11] The public treasury is tesoro from about 1350; in 1831 the purist Lissoni rejected that sense as a Gallicism, and Viani defended it with many examples.^[2] Natural riches are tesori in Tasso (1581), and works of art in Tommaseo–Bellini (1879).^[2]

Tesoriere (end of the 13th century, Novellino) and tesoreria depend on French trésorier (1170) and trésorerie, from the Late Latin thesaurarius “keeper of the treasure” used by Isidore.^[2] In modern Italy the word names the state's funds and, capitalized, the ministry that managed them, as in buono del Tesoro “Treasury bond”; the game caccia al tesoro is a treasure hunt.^[12][4][13]

Timeline

• 1293–1294 – Dante uses tesoro for a much loved person or thing.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses tesoro for a great quantity of money.^[2][4]
• End of the 13th century – Tesoriere appears in the Novellino.^[2]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses the word for an encyclopaedic work.^[2]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses tesoro for hidden valuables.^[2]
• c. 1350 – Tesoro “public treasury” is recorded.^[2]
• 1581 – Tasso uses the word for natural riches.^[2]
• 1831 – Lissoni rejects tesoro “treasury” as a Gallicism.^[2]
• 1879 – Tommaseo–Bellini record tesoro for a precious work of art.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A treasure, a large store of money, jewels and precious objects, kept with care or hidden: I ragazzi cercavano un tesoro sepolto nel giardino.^[4][7][12]
2. (by extension) A great deal of money: Quella macchina gli è costata un tesoro.^[4][7]
3. (law) A valuable movable object, hidden or buried, whose owner cannot be proved.^[4][12][13]
4. The relics, sacred furnishings and works of art belonging to a church or shrine, and the room where they are kept.^[4][7][14]
5. (often capitalized) The public treasury; the ministry in charge of it.^[4][7][1]
6. (figurative) Something of great value: natural resources, a work of art, a spiritual gift.^[12][7][15]
7. (figurative) A much loved person, or a very kind and helpful one, (colloquial) as a term of endearment, darling: Tesoro, hai visto le mie chiavi?^[12][15][1]
8. (archaeology) In ancient Greece, a treasury building of a sanctuary; in the Mycenaean age, a domed tomb.^[4][15]

Word family

• tesoriere
• tesoreria
• tesoretto
• tesoreggiare
• tesaurizzare

Related words

• tesauro
• Latin thesaurus

Usage notes

Fare tesoro di qualcosa means to value something and keep it for later use, especially advice or experience.^[14][12][13] Tesauro is the old and literary form.^[14][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3771
7. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 989
12. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli