tranquillo

Forms

tranquillo (feminine tranquilla, masculine plural tranquilli, feminine plural tranquille, superlative tranquillissimo)^[1] Older forms are Old Italian tranquilo, with the southern Old Italian tranquillu.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin tranquillus (“calm, still”), an adjective used by Latin writers from Plautus on, above all of the sea.^{[4][5][6][7][8]} The same Latin adjective gave French tranquille (14th century) and Spanish tranquilo.^[5][7]

The origin of the Latin adjective is uncertain.^[9][10][7] The usual explanation joins Latin trāns (“across”) and the root of quiēs (“rest, quiet”), with Proto-Italic *trānskʷīlos.^{[5][11][1][12]} De Vaan finds it vague in meaning, because the prefix does not fit, and doubtful in sound and suffix.^[8] DELI records a view that the word first meant “transparent” and then “calm”, but finds it hard to square with the formation, which would lead one to expect a form with ⟨-squ-⟩.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Roman Storie de Troia e de Roma (1252–1258), where the word describes what is still or calm.^[2] DELI dates “quiet, serene” to Dante, who speaks of light seen “per acque nitide e tranquille” (through clear and still waters).^[4][13]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used it of the sea, the wind, the weather and sheltered places, of people untroubled by cares or passions, and of a country at peace.^[2] A noun tranquillo “calm” was used by Giovanni Villani and Torquato Tasso;^[14][15] Villani's tenere in tranquillo meant “to keep quiet”.^[14][15] The senses “enjoying peace of mind” and “not given to anger” are dated 1879 by DELI, from Tommaseo, and “taking no part in brawls” 1875.^[4] Wine-makers call a wine without fizz tranquillo.^[10][6]

The derivatives came early: tranquillitate is in Iacopone da Todi (before 1306) and tranquillare in the late 13th century.^[4][5] Tranquillizzare (1769) was frowned on by purists as a copy of French tranquilliser;^[4] tranquillante “tranquillizer” is from 1957.^[4] As a musical direction tranquillo passed into English (1854) and German (1865).^[16]

Timeline

• 1252–1258 – The Storie de Troia e de Roma have the first record.^[2]
• Late 13th century – Tranquillare is recorded.^[5]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses tranquillitate.^[4]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses tranquillo for “quiet, serene”.^[6][4]
• 1769 – Tranquillizzare appears in the letters of the Verri brothers.^[4]
• 1854 – English takes over tranquillo as a musical direction.^[16]
• 1957 – Tranquillante “tranquillizer” is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. calm, still (of the sea, the wind, the air): Stamattina il lago era tranquillo.^{[6][17][18][1]}
2. quiet, peaceful (of a place): Cerchiamo un albergo tranquillo, lontano dal centro.^[6][17][9]
3. Untroubled, at ease, not worried; often in stare tranquillo: Stai tranquillo, ci penso io.^{[6][17][9][10]}
4. Placid, peaceable (of a person or a people); docile (of an animal).^[6][17][18]
5. (winemaking) Still, not sparkling.^[6][10]
6. (music) To be played calmly.^[6][17][16]

Word family

• tranquillante
• tranquillare
• tranquillità
• tranquillizzare
• intranquillo
• tranquillamente

Related words

• quiete
• cheto
• Latin tranquillus
• French tranquille

Usage notes

Used as an interjection, tranquillo! means “don't worry!”, and it can work as an adverb, as in vivere tranquillo.^[6][10] Common phrases are avere la coscienza tranquilla and dormire sonni tranquilli.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 d e 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 k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3861
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
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. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21, 165
14. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 1009
15. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET, p. 4, 1545
16. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
17. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
18. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana