viso

Forms

viso m (plural visi, diminutive visétto or visettìno or visìno, augmentative (uncommon) visóne, pejorative visàccio, diminutive-endearing visùccio)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vīsus (“sight, look; appearance”), the abstract noun of videō (“to see”) built on its past participle.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} In Latin it meant a thing seen, an image or vision, and in philosophy it rendered Ancient Greek φαντασία (phantasía);^[2][3] Italian, like other Romance languages, gave it the concrete sense “face”.^[2][3]

The same word is Old French vis (“face”), Old Occitan vis, Spanish viso (“appearance; sheen”) and Portuguese viso (“sight”), and French visage is derived from it.^[3][6][7] The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see, know”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the word before 1294.^[4] DELI's first records are in Zucchero Bencivenni (1310) and Dante (before 1321), for the front part of the head where the organs of sight, smell and speech are;^[2] Dante also uses it for the expression of the face (1313–19).^[2]

Semantic evolution

Dante still uses viso for sight and gaze, as in lo viso mio seguiva i suoi sembianti “my sight followed her looks”, and figuratively for the mind's eye: or drizza il viso a quel ch'or si ragiona “now turn your mind to what is now discussed”.^[4][8]

The phrase a viso aperto “openly, boldly” owes its life to a line of Dante (Inferno X 93) and its origin to the boldest jousters, who fought with the visor raised.^[2] Fare buon viso a cattivo gioco is a calque of French faire bonne mine à mauvais jeu, and viso pallido renders English paleface.^[5][2] Treccani notes that viso is a more elevated synonym of faccia and cannot replace it in phrases such as faccia tosta.^[8]

The diminutive visetto is in Firenzuola (1540–41), for a pretty, smiling face.^[2] Visiera, the visor of a helmet, is a borrowing from French, already in Dante.^[2][3]

Timeline

• Before 1294 – The word is first recorded.^[4]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses visiera for the visor of a helmet.^[2]
• 1310 – Zucchero Bencivenni uses viso “face”.^[2]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses it for the expression of the face.^[2]
• 1540–1541 – Agnolo Firenzuola uses visetto.^[2]
• 1640 – Oudin records visetto as a plain diminutive.^[2]
• 1937 – Visiera is recorded for the peak of a cap.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The face: the front of the human head from the forehead to the chin: aveva il viso rigato di lacrime.^[4][5][9]
2. The features and their expression; the look of a face: aveva un viso stanco e assorto.^[4][5][9]
3. (figurative) A person: alla festa c'erano molti visi nuovi.^[4]
4. (archaic, literary) sight, gaze; figuratively, the mind's eye: lo viso mio seguiva i suoi sembianti (Dante).^[4][9][8][1]
5. (botany) The eye, the germ of a bean.^[4]

Word family

• visetto
• visino
• visaccio
• visuccio
• ravvisare
• svisare
• travisare

Related words

• visiera
• avviso
• vedere
• Latin vīsus
• Old French vis

Usage notes

Common phrases are a viso aperto “openly, boldly”, fare buon viso a cattivo gioco “to put a good face on a bad business” and guardare in viso “to look in the face”.^[4][5][10] An old viso “opinion”, a shortened form of avviso, is in Guittone, Sercambi and Machiavelli, as in essere di viso “to be of the opinion”.^{[11][12][1][6]} Viso was also an old past participle of vedere “seen”, as in Dante's Fu viso a me “it seemed to me”.^[8][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 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 Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4068