uomo Italian · revision 37549

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=1219|origins=ine-pro *dʰǵʰ(e)m-ōn}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈwɔ.mo/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''uomo''' ''m'' (plural uomini, diminutive ométto or (regional) omarìno, augmentative ominóne or omóne, pejorative omàccio, diminutive-endearing omìno, derogatory omiciàttolo or (uncommon) omiciàtto or (rare) omicciàttolo or (rare) omicciàtto, diminutive-derogatory omicciòlo or (literary) omicciuòlo)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old and popular forms are ''omo'' and ''uom'', with the plurals ''òmini'' and ''òmeni''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Wiktionary)^(DEI|3955)

+ Old Italian also had ''uono'' and ''on''.^(Prati 1951|1029)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|homō|t=human being, man]], continued in the nominative, while the plural ⟨uomini⟩ continues [[m|la|hominēs]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) Few Latin nouns for persons survive in the nominative in Italian;^(Nocentini 2010) Nocentini names others such as [[m|la|mulier]] and [[m|la|latrō]].^(Nocentini 2010) [[fur|om]], [[rm|um]] and [[ro|om]] also continue the nominative, while the other Romance languages continue the accusative [[m|la|hominem]]: [[fr|homme]], [[oc|ome]], [[ca|home]], [[es|hombre]], [[pt|homem]] and [[sc|ómine]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) The nominative also gave an indefinite pronoun, “one”, in Old Italian ⟨omo⟩, [[fr|on]] and Old Occitan [[m|pro|om]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)

+

+ In Latin the word meant a human being as opposed to the gods, beside [[la|vir|t=male person]], but it began to replace ⟨vir⟩ for “man” in the imperial period.^(DELI 1999) De Vaan reconstructs a stem [[itc-pro|*χe/om-on-]] and, with Nussbaum, [[ine-pro|*dʰǵʰ(e)m-ōn]] “earthling”, derived from the word for earth found in [[la|humus|t=earth]].^(de Vaan 2008) Old Latin had a form [[m|la|hemō]], kept in [[m|la|nēmō|t=nobody]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Related words for “man” are [[osc|humuns]], [[got|𐌲𐌿𐌼𐌰|tr=guma]], [[lt|žmogus]] and [[sga|duine]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Nocentini 2010) The link with ⟨humus⟩ was already made in antiquity: Quintilian mocked it, asking whether man was called ⟨homo⟩ because he was born from the earth, as though all animals did not have the same origin.^(DELI 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Nocentini and GRADIT date the first record to 1219,^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003) and Sabatini–Coletti finds the plural ''omini'' in the 12th century.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) DELI's first dated sense is the adult male, in Brunetto Latini before 1294, and the human being in general is in Dante (1300–1313).^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Dante's “Uomini siate, e non pecore matte” (be men, and not mad sheep, ''Paradiso'' 5) uses the word for a human being endowed with reason.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI) Boccaccio has it for a worker or employee and for a husband, and a 14th-century translation of Livy for an armed man, a soldier; a sailor is ''uomo'' in Pantera in 1614.^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|3955) As an indefinite pronoun, like French ''on'', ''uom dice'' meant “people say” in the 13th and 14th centuries, and the word could mean “someone” or, in negative clauses, “no one”;^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|3955) DELI notes that it never became fully grammatical.^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|3955) Old Florentine ''ongnono'' and Sienese ''ogniuono'' “everyone” come from ''ogni uomo''.^(DEI|3955)

+

+ Compounds borrowed or calqued from other languages followed: ''superuomo'' (1894) after German ''Übermensch'', ''uomo rana'' (1949) after English ''frogman'', ''uomo sandwich'' before 1915, and ''uomo della strada'', a partly mistaken rendering of English ''the man in the street''.^(Nocentini 2010)^(DELI 1999) ''Uomo-massa'' comes from Ortega y Gasset's Spanish ''hombre-masa'' (1930).^(DELI 1999) English Polari took the word as ''omee'', a man or a landlord, in 1859.^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 12th century – The plural ''omini'' is recorded.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ * 1219 – First record of the word.^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for an adult male.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1300–1313 – Dante uses it for the human being, and as a pronoun, “one”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for a worker or employee.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1614 – ''Uomo'' “sailor” in Pantero Pantera.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1859 – Polari ''omee'' is recorded in English.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1894 – ''Superuomo'', a calque of German ''Übermensch''.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1949 – ''Uomo rana'' “frogman”.^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|human being]], a person, as a being with reason and language, ''(anthropology)'' the species ''Homo sapiens''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # [[m|en|mankind]], the human species taken together: ''i diritti dell'uomo'', ''l'uomo moderno''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # A [[m|en|man]], an adult male: ''un uomo sulla cinquantina'', ''ormai è un uomo''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # A man as having the qualities traditionally expected of one: ''comportati da uomo''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # A worker, someone sent for a job: ''è arrivato l'uomo della caldaia''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(DELI 1999)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' A husband, partner or lover: ''è uscita con il suo uomo''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A member of a military unit, a crew or a team: ''una pattuglia di dieci uomini''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # ''(archaic)'' One, anyone, people in general.^(Wiktionary)^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ometto]]

+ * [[omino]]

+ * [[omone]]

+ * [[omaccio]]

+ * [[omaccione]]

+ * [[omiciattolo]]

+ * [[superuomo]]

+ * [[gentiluomo]]

+ * [[galantuomo]]

+ * [[valentuomo]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[omicidio]]

+ * [[umano]]

+ * [[omuncolo]]

+ * [[ominide]]

+ * [[umile]]

+ * [[omaggio]]

+ * [[la|homō]]

+ * [[la|humus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The plural is irregular: ''uomini''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) Common phrases are ''da uomo a uomo'' (frankly, man to man), ''a memoria d'uomo'' (in living memory), ''a passo d'uomo'' (at walking pace), ''uomo d'affari'' (businessman) and ''uomo di paglia'' (front man).^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Wiktionary) Tommaseo notes that ''uomo'' is never three syllables in verse: in Dante the line is completed by a break between vowels, not by splitting the diphthong.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}