vero

Forms

vero (feminine vera, masculine plural veri, feminine plural vere, superlative verissimo, adverb veramente)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vērus (“true, real”);^[2][3][4][1] the noun use continues the Latin neuter used as a noun, vērum (“the truth”).^[2][5] The word is panromance: Old French voir (modern French vrai is a separate formation), Occitan ver, Catalan ver, Old Spanish vero, Sardinian béru and Romanian văr, which means “cousin” after a phrase for a cousin of the first degree.^[3][6] DEI notes that in southern Italy the word is a loan from the standard, since the dialects there use the descendants of vērāx (“truthful”).^[7]

The Latin word continues Proto-Italic *wēros, from Proto-Indo-European *weh₁-ros, built on *weh₁- (“true”).^[1][8] Its relatives are Old Irish fír and Welsh gwir, Old High German wār (modern German wahr), and Old Church Slavonic вѣра (věra), which means “faith”.^[3][8][9] Devoto takes the Slavic word as showing the original sense, “worthy of belief”.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Dante's Convivio (1300–1313), in the sense “right, proper, exact”.^[2] GRADIT dates the word to before 1313, Nocentini and Devoto–Oli to the beginning of the 14th century.^[4][3][10]

Semantic evolution

Dante also uses it for what is real and effective, and before a noun to stress a person's quality, and Boccaccio for what is genuine, between 1348 and 1353.^[2] The noun il vero “the truth” is in Dante, and Vasari used it in 1550 for nature as the painter's model.^[2] Tommaseo distinguishes vero, for objective truth, from verace, for what tells the truth, and Old Italian also used vero as an adverb, “truly”.^[11]

The emphatic use before a noun, as in un vero disastro, is recorded only from 1891.^[2] Derivatives include davvero (early 14th century), avverare, nevvero (16th century) and verismo, the realist movement in literature and art, recorded in 1871;^[3][2][5] DELI and Prati compare its formation with English truism.^[3][2][5]

Timeline

• 1300–1313 – Dante uses vero for “right, exact”.^[2]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses it for “real, actual”.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Il vero “the truth” in Dante.^[2]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for “genuine”.^[2]
• 1550 – Vasari uses il vero for nature as a model.^[2]
• 1871 – Verismo is first recorded.^[3]
• 1891 – The emphatic use before a noun is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. true: in accordance with the facts: è una storia vera.^[4][12][1]
2. In questions asking for agreement: vero?, non è vero?, tant'è vero che, so much so that.^[4][10][13]
3. real, actual: non conosco il suo vero nome.^[4][10][12]
4. Right, exact: il vero senso di una frase.^[4][14]
5. genuine, not imitation: una borsa di vera pelle.^[12][15][1]
6. Sincere, deep: un vero affetto.^[4][12]
7. Before a noun, stressing a quality: è stato un vero disastro.^[2][13]

Noun

1. The truth, what is true: dire il vero.^[4][1][11]
2. (art) Reality, nature as a model: disegnare dal vero.^[2][4]

Word family

• davvero
• invero
• nevvero
• avverare
• veramente
• verismo
• verista

Related words

• verace
• verità
• verificare
• verosimile
• severo
• Latin vērus
• German wahr

Usage notes

Common phrases are a dire il vero (to tell the truth), fosse vero! (if only it were true), non mi pare vero (I can't believe it) and com'è vero Dio (as God is my witness).^[4][13][15] The old conjunction ovvero “or, that is” is a compound with o.^[6][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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 g 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 Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4028
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 Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 468
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli