sorella Italian · revision 37771

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1304–1308, Dante|origins=ine-pro *swésōr}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /soˈrɛl.la/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''sorella''' ''f'' (plural sorelle, diminutive sorellìna or (archaic) sorellétta, augmentative sorellóna, pejorative sorellàccia, endearing sorellùccia)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|it|suora|-ella]], a diminutive made on the model of [[fratello]] beside [[frate]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(DELI 1999)^(Wiktionary) Between Latin and Italian, Migliorini observed, diminutives of kinship words often replaced their bases, as [[avolo]] and [[vecchio]] did, and once the base words became the titles of members of the new religious orders, the diminutives took over the ordinary sense.^(DELI 1999) The 14th-century Tuscan lexicon had several other terms of the same meaning: [[roa-oit|suora]], [[roa-oit|sorore]] (Petrarch), and [[roa-oit|sirocchia]] (Dante) with its variants [[roa-oit|serocchia]] and [[roa-oit|sorocchia]].^(DELI 1999) Meyer-Lübke notes that the word covers the same area as the masculine.^(REW 1935)

+

+ The base is [[la|soror|t=sister]], whose nominative gave [[fr|sœur]] and [[ro|soră]]; the Iberian languages use [[es|hermana]], [[pt|irmã]] and [[ca|germana]] instead.^(REW 1935)^(DEI|3557) The diminutive [[scn|surredda]] means “cousin”.^(DEI|3557)^(REW 1935) The Latin noun continues [[itc-pro|*swezōr]] and [[ine-pro|*swésōr]], with cognates such as [[got|𐍃𐍅𐌹𐍃𐍄𐌰𐍂|tr=swistar]], [[lt|sesuo]], [[ru|сестра|tr=sestrá]] and English [[m|en|sister]]; de Vaan mentions that it may be a compound of a word for “self” and a word for “woman”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI and GRADIT date the word to 1304–1308, in Dante, with the sense “female sibling”;^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(DEI|3557) Zingarelli gives about 1261 and DEI the 13th century.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(DEI|3557)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Dante also used ''sorella'' for a thing of the same nature as another (1300–1313) and for a nun (before 1321).^(DELI 1999) Tommaseo quotes his image of the hoar-frost that copies “l'imagine di sua sorella bianca” (the image of her white sister), the snow.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) DEI records the senses “cousin” (15th century, Feo Belcari) and “companion, friend” (14th century).^(DEI|3557) The adjective use after a noun, as in ''nazioni sorelle'', is found in Mazzini before 1872, and ''città sorelle'' and ''isole sorelle'' in Tommaseo in 1873.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ''Sorellastra'' “half-sister” came from northern Italy: Venetian ''sorelastra'' (1829) and Milanese ''sorellastra'' (1843), but the Venetian Gasparo Gozzi, who died in 1786, was the first to use it in Italian.^(DELI 1999) ''Sorellanza'', modelled on ''fratellanza'', is isolated in Florio's dictionary of 1611 and became current in the 20th century.^(DELI 1999) Today the word is also the title of Red Cross nurses, and ''le sette sorelle'' are the seven big oil companies.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1261 – Zingarelli's date of first record.^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ * 1304–1308 – Dante uses ''sorella'' “sister”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1321 – Dante uses it for a nun.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1611 – ''Sorellanza'' “sisterhood” appears in Florio's dictionary.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1786 – Gasparo Gozzi uses ''sorellastra''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1872 – Mazzini writes of ''nazioni sorelle''.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|sister]], a female person born of the same parents as another: ''mia sorella maggiore'', ''sorella di latte'', a girl nursed by the same wet nurse.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # A title for [[m|en|nun|alt=nuns]] and for Red Cross [[m|en|nurse|alt=nurses]]: ''sorella Teresa''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A thing closely akin to another: ''L'ignoranza è sorella della paura.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(after a feminine noun, as an adjective)'' Kindred, of the same origin: ''città sorelle''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[sorellina]]

+ * [[sorellastra]]

+ * [[sorellanza]]

+ * [[consorella]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fratello]]

+ * [[suora]]

+ * [[la|soror]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ With a possessive, ''sorella'' takes no article in the singular (''mia sorella''), although popular and older usage has ''la mia sorella''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}