Etymologically
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Italia

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [iːˈta.li.a], [ɪˈta.li.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iˈtaː.li.a], [iˈtaː.li.a][1]

Forms

Ī̆talia f sg (genitive Ī̆taliae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἰταλία (Italía), probably from Oscan 𐌅𐌝𐌕𐌄𐌋𐌉𐌞 (víteliú, “land of bulls”), the name of the south-western tip of the peninsula.[1][2] Etymonline calls the origin unknown and gives the Oscan word as a possibility.[2] The Oscan word is usually connected with vitulus “calf”,[1][2] and Lewis & Short explain the name as standing for ⟨Vitalia⟩ and referring to the abundance of cattle, as Gellius reports.[3][4] Köbler sets it beside Proto-Indo-European *wet- (“year”), the root of that word.[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucilius is its first author,[5] and he scans the first syllable short, which is its natural quantity.[7]

Semantic evolution

The Greeks first gave the name only to parts of southern Italy, and Cisalpine Gaul was not officially part of Italy until the time of Augustus.[7] By metonymy it also meant the people of Italy.[3][4][1] Pliny the Elder uses iūs Italiae for the privileges of Italian land granted to provincial towns.[7]

In Old High German glosses it is rendered as the land of the Lombards.[5] It passed into the Romance languages, as Italian Italia and French Italie, and into Old English as Italia, the source of English Italy.[1][2]

Timeline

  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius scans it with a short first syllable.[7][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil lengthens the first syllable in Italiam fātō.[8][7][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses iūs Italiae.[7][5]

Meanings

Proper noun

  1. Italy.[7][3][1]
  2. (metonymy) The people of Italy.[3][4][1]

Word family

  • English Italy

Usage notes

The first syllable is short by nature, as Quintilian notes, and is lengthened in dactylic verse;[7] Isidore of Seville cites Virgil's Italiam fātō as a lengthening against nature.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).