viola

viola¹ violet (plant, flower and colour)

Etymology tree of viola¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin viola

Romanian vioară

English viola

Italian viola

Spanish viola

From the same root · viola¹

Latin violarium ← viola

Pronunciation

• /viˈɔ.la/, /ˈvjɔ.la/^[1]

Forms

viola f (plural viole)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the violet is a learned word: it is borrowed from Latin viola (“violet”).^[2][3][4][1] DEI calls it semi-learned, and Sabatini–Coletti starts from a Vulgar Latin *viòla stressed on the second syllable, against the classical stress on the first syllable.^[5][6][2] Latin already had both the plant and flower and the colour.^[2]

The Latin word is compared with Ancient Greek ἴον (íon, “violet”), from earlier ϝίον (wíon).^[1] Both are taken to be independent loans from a Mediterranean substrate language.^[3][6][1] It is Old French viole (now French violette) and Spanish viola, and passed into Old High German viola, whence German Veilchen.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Dante's Purgatorio (1313–1319): Men che di rose e più che di viole / colore aprendo (“opening a colour less than of roses and more than of violets”). The form viuola is in the Fiore, of the late 13th or early 14th century.^[2][7] Nocentini dates the word to the second half of the 13th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Old forms were viuola and vivola, in Boccaccio and the vernacular Palladius.^[6][8] Bonvesin de la Riva wrote a dispute between the rose and the violet, with Milanese viora.^[7] In poetry the violet is paired with the rose and set against it for its pale colour.^[7]

Viola mammola, the sweet violet, is recorded from Francesco Redi (before 1698), after mammole viole in Pulci.^[2] Viola del pensiero, the pansy, is an adaptation of Milanese viola del penser (1840), itself from French pensée: the flower was the lovers' flower.^[2] The word is a noun for the colour from 1810 and an adjective from 1939–40.^[2] Because of its purple shirts, viola also names the Fiorentina football club, its players and fans.^[9][10]

Timeline

• Late 13th or early 14th century – The form viuola appears in the Fiore.^[2]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses viole in the Purgatorio.^[2][7]
• 1374 – Petrarch uses the diminutive violetta.^[2]
• Before 1698 – Francesco Redi uses viola mammola.^[2]
• 1810 – Viola is a noun for the colour.^[2]
• 1871–1892 – Viola del pensiero is recorded.^[2]
• 1939–1940 – Viola is recorded as an adjective of colour.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) A violet, a plant of the genus Viola, or its flower: viola mammola (sweet violet), viola del pensiero (pansy).^[4][9][11]
2. (masculine) The colour violet, between blue and red.^[11][9]
3. (sport) A player or supporter of Fiorentina.^[9][10]

Adjective

1. (invariable) purple, violet: una sciarpa viola.^[9][10][1]
2. (sport) Of Fiorentina: l'allenatore viola.^[9][10]

Word family

• violetta
• violetto
• violaceo
• violacciocca
• violacea
• ultravioletto

viola² viola (musical instrument)

Pronunciation

• /viˈɔ.la/, /ˈvjɔ.la/^[1]

Forms

viola f (plural viole)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the musical instrument is borrowed from Old Occitan viola, recorded about 1180.^[2][3][4] DELI rejects the long-held derivation from Latin vīvula (“lively”) and takes the Occitan word as imitative, “the instrument that goes ⟨viu⟩”, like piular (“to cry”) and miular (“to mew”).^[2] Nocentini derives it from violar or viular (“to play a stringed instrument”), an imitative verb related to Catalan fiular (“to whistle”).^[3]

Devoto–Oli and Wiktionary instead trace the Occitan word to Medieval Latin *vitula (“stringed instrument”), which may be connected with the goddess Latin Vitula or with vitulor (“to rejoice”).^[12][1][13]

From Occitan come French viole and Spanish vihuela, a kind of guitar.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Medieval Latin viola is recorded at Bologna in 1261.^[2][6] The Italian word appears in the Fioretti di San Francesco of the 14th century.^[2][6] Nocentini dates it to the second half of the 13th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Old forms were viuola, vivuola and vivola, in Boccaccio and Pietro de' Crescenzi.^[6][11] The word long named the whole family of bowed instruments, the old fretted viols with six strings and the modern fretless ones.^[14] From it came violino (1506 in Nocentini, before 1565 in DELI), violone and violoncello (1687).^[3][2] Today it is the alto of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.^[4][15]

English took viola from Italian in 1797, and viola da gamba in 1724.^[13]

Timeline

• About 1180 – Old Occitan viola is recorded.^[2][4]
• 1261 – Medieval Latin viola is recorded at Bologna.^[2]
• 14th century – The Fioretti di San Francesco use viola.^[2]
• 1506 – Violino is recorded.^[3]
• 1687 – Violoncello is recorded.^[3]
• 1797 – English viola is recorded.^[13]
• 1879 – Violista is recorded.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (music) A viola, the bowed string instrument between the violin and the cello.^[4][10] Viola da gamba, viola d'amore: older instruments of the family.^[4][10][16]
2. A viola player in an orchestra.^[10][16]
3. (music) An organ stop.^[16]

Word family

• violino
• violista
• violone
• violoncello
• violinista
• violoncellista
• sviolinare