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venerdì

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word venerdì

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
before 1348, Giovanni Villani
Inherited from
Latin Veneris dies

Pronunciation

  • /ve.nerˈdi/[1]

Forms

venerdì m (invariable)[1] Old and dialect forms include Old Italian venardì, Old Italian vegnirì and Old Italian verardì.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin Veneris diēs (“day of Venus”),[5][6][1] a phrase recorded in inscriptions of the 1st century AD, “the day of the planet Venus”, after the model of Ancient Greek ἡμέρα Ἀφροδίτης (hēméra Aphrodítēs).[7][2] Nocentini starts from the Vulgar Latin accusative *Venĕris diem.[8] The second part is dì “day”.[4]

In the imperial Roman calendar the days of the week were named after the planets, and the sixth day counting from the day of the Sun was that of Venus.[8] Devoto–Oli and Treccani add that Venus was believed to govern the first hour of that day.[6][9] French vendredi follows the same word order, Occitan divendres and Catalan divendres the reverse one, and Spanish viernes and Romanian vineri keep only the name of the goddess; Portuguese sexta-feira “sixth feria” follows the Christian count.[8][10]

DELI notes that this compound is not very old in Italian beside the widespread popular venere, and goes back to the time of the Crusades.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Giovanni Villani, who died in 1348, for the fifth day of the week;[7][5] Zingarelli dates the word to 1268.[4] Villani writes Venuta in Firenze la novella in venerdì sera, “The news having come to Florence on Friday evening”.[3]

Semantic evolution

Friday is the fifth day of the civil week and the sixth of the liturgical one.[4][2] For Catholics it is a day of penance, and until 1966 the faithful had to abstain from meat on every Friday; the rule now applies only in Lent.[2] The first Friday of the month is devoted to the Sacred Heart, and Venerdì santo is Good Friday.[6][9] In popular belief Friday is a day of ill omen, and a proverb warns that whoever laughs on Friday will weep on Sunday.[6][11][9]

The joking phrase gli manca qualche venerdì, “he is missing a few Fridays”, is said of someone who seems not quite right in the head.[4][9] The country form venardì was still heard in Tuscany in Tommaseo's day.[3]

Timeline

  • 1st century AD – Latin Veneris dies appears in inscriptions.[7]
  • 1268 – Zingarelli's first date for venerdì.[4]
  • Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses venerdì.[7]
  • 1966 – Abstinence from meat stops being required on every Friday.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Friday: Il venerdì sera andiamo sempre in pizzeria.[5][6][12][1]

Usage notes

Venerdì is masculine and invariable.[1][5] Venerdì santo is Good Friday and venerdì grasso the last Friday of carnival;[6][5][9] non avere tutti i venerdì means to be a little odd.[6][5][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  3. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  4. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  8. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b c d e f Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  10. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4010
  11. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  12. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse

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

“Venerdì.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/venerd%C3%AC. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·