universo

Forms

universo m (plural universi)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ūniversus (“all together, whole”), a learned borrowing; the noun is the Latin neuter used as a noun, ūniversum (“the whole world”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin adjective is a compound of ūni- (“one”) and versus (“turned”), the past participle of vertō (“to turn”), so literally “turned all in one direction”.^[2][3][5][1] In philosophical Latin the neuter noun rendered Ancient Greek τὸ ὅλον (tò hólon, “the whole”).^[2] The same Latin word gave French univers and Spanish universo.^[3][6]

Its derivative ūniversālis was coined by Quintilian to render Ancient Greek καθολικός (katholikós, “general”).^[2][3] In medieval Latin ūniversitās (“the whole”) came to mean a corporation, and the Bologna Medieval Latin universitas scholarium, at the end of the 12th century, gave università its modern sense.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective, meaning “whole, taken in all its parts”, is in Dante's Convivio (1304–1308) and then in Giovanni Villani; the noun “the whole of matter spread through space and time” follows in Dante's Commedia (1300–1313).^[2][4] Dante quotes the Psalm quanto è ammirabile lo nome tuo ne l'universa terra, “how admirable is your name in all the earth”.^[5][7]

Semantic evolution

The opening of the Paradiso has the noun: La gloria di colui che tutto move / per l'universo penetra, “the glory of Him who moves all things penetrates the universe”.^[8][7] Boccaccio uses it for the earth and its people (1348–1353).^[2] The adjective survived in literary use, as in l'universo mondo, the whole world.^[9][7]

The wider sense “everything that exists” is dated 1891.^[2] In modern use the noun also names a person's or a group's own world, real or imaginary (l'universo dell'infanzia), the world of an artist's work, and in statistics the whole set of cases a study covers.^[4][10] Cosmology speaks of open and closed universes.^[5][8]

Timeline

• 1300–1313 – Dante uses the noun in the Commedia.^[2]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses the adjective in the Convivio.^[2][4]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for the earth and its inhabitants.^[2]
• 1891 – The sense “all that exists” is recorded.^[2]
• 1959 – Universiade is coined in Milan from università and olimpiade.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The universe: all things that exist and the space that contains them.^[4][5][9]
2. (astronomy) The whole of the heavenly bodies and the space they occupy: l'espansione dell'universo.^[4][5][10]
3. The earth, the world, especially all humankind.^[4][9][8]
4. (figurative) A person's or a group's own world, real or imagined: Quel romanzo descrive l'universo dei pescatori.^[4][10][8]
5. (statistics) The whole set of individual cases to which a statistical study applies; a population.^[4][10][11]

Adjective

1. (literary) Whole, all, taken as a whole: l'universo mondo.^[4][9][11]

Word family

• universale
• universalismo
• universalista
• universalità
• universalizzare
• universiade
• università
• universitario

Related words

• uno
• verso
• Latin ūniversus
• French univers

Usage notes

Some sayings use the noun as a hyperbole: pare che venga giù l'universo is said of a violent downpour, and credersi il padrone dell'universo of someone who wants everything their way.^[5][9][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 e f 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 c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
7. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
9. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c d 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