genere Italian · revision 37871

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1260–1261, Brunetto Latini|origins=ine-pro *ǵénh₁os}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈd͡ʒɛ.ne.re/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''genere''' ''m'' (plural generi)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a learned word, [[bor|la|genus|t=birth, descent, race; kind]], genitive ⟨generis⟩.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003) Sabatini–Coletti explains the Italian form: it was rebuilt on the stem ⟨gener-⟩ with a final ⟨-e⟩, as with other Latin nouns whose stem ends in a consonant.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) Old Italian also had a form ⟨genero⟩, which DELI finds in the Tuscan translation of Palladius about 1340.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO)

+

+ The Latin noun belongs with [[m|la|gignō|t=to beget, give birth to]], [[m|la|gēns|t=clan, people]] and [[m|la|genitor|t=begetter]].^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) It goes back through [[itc-pro|*genos]] to [[ine-pro|*ǵénh₁os|t=race, stock]], from the root [[m|ine-pro|*ǵenh₁-|t=to beget, be born]].^(Wiktionary)^(Nocentini 2010) Its closest relatives are [[grc|γένος|tr=génos|t=race, kind]], [[sa|जनस्|tr=jánas|t=race, class of beings]] and [[ang|cynn]], the ancestor of [[en|kin]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(Wiktionary) The genitive shows the Latin change of a /s/ between vowels to /r/, so an older ⟨*genes-is⟩ can be reconstructed.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ In the Romance languages the noun was taken up as a learned word too: [[fr|genre]], [[es|género]] and [[pt|gênero]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)^(Körting 1907) A popular continuation survived only in [[fro|giens]] and [[pro|ges]], which became words strengthening a negation, much as [[m|fr|rien]] came from a noun.^(DEI|1783)^(REW 1935)^(Körting 1907)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is in Brunetto Latini's ''Rettorica'' (about 1260–1261, Florentine), where the word is a term of rhetoric and logic: a higher class under which things with a common essence are ranked.^(TLIO) DELI's first dated sense is the philosophical one, “general idea”, in Dante's ''Convivio'' (1304–1308).^(DELI 1999) GRADIT dates the word to before 1294.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the logical class the word spread to classes of every kind, and in Old Italian it also meant “lineage, descent”, “the greater part” and, in ''genere umano'', mankind.^(TLIO) Grammatical gender is recorded before 1498 in Savonarola, “manner, style” in Vasari in 1550, the literary genre before 1565 in Benedetto Varchi, and the biological rank between family and species in Cosimo Bartoli in 1568.^(DELI 1999) The commercial sense “goods, merchandise”, recorded in Luigi Da Porto in 1524, was still felt to be a new usage in 1812, when Bernardoni rejected it; today it survives in ''generi alimentari''.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ Nocentini notes that the French ''genre'' carried the sense “artistic or literary kind” into other European languages (English ''genre'', German ''Genre'') and also gave English ''gender''.^(Nocentini 2010) In music ''genere'' is recorded before 1602 and passed into French in 1703 and into German in 1732.^(DIFIT) The recent sense “gender”, the social and cultural side of being male or female (''identità di genere''), follows English ''gender''.^(Treccani 2011)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020) The phrases ''del genere'' “of that kind, like that” and ''in genere'' “generally” are very common; the TLIO already records ''in genere'' in Old Italian.^(TLIO)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1260–1261 – Brunetto Latini uses the word in his ''Rettorica''.^(TLIO)

+ * 1304–1308 – Dante uses it for a general idea in the ''Convivio''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * c. 1340 – The form ''genero'' appears in the Tuscan Palladius.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1498 – Savonarola uses it for grammatical gender.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1524 – Luigi Da Porto uses it for goods, merchandise.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1550 – Vasari uses it for “manner, style”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1565 – Benedetto Varchi uses it for a literary genre.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1568 – Cosimo Bartoli uses it for a class in a classification.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1703 – The musical term passes into French.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1812 – Bernardoni rejects the sense “goods” as a new usage.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|kind]], [[m|en|sort]], type: a group of people or things that share their main features: ''Che genere di musica ascolti?''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(biology)'' [[m|en|genus]], the rank above the species and below the family.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # (of art, literature, music) [[m|en|genre]]: ''il genere giallo, il genere comico''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(grammar)'' [[m|en|gender]] of nouns, adjectives and pronouns: masculine, feminine, neuter.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(sociology)'' gender, the social and cultural characteristics attributed to men and women: ''studi di genere''.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # (chiefly plural) goods, products: ''generi alimentari''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(philosophy)'' a class of things that share essential properties and differ in non-essential ones.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[generico]]

+ * [[genericità]]

+ * [[generare]]

+ * [[generazione]]

+ * [[generatore]]

+ * [[degenerare]]

+ * [[congenere]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[generale]]

+ * [[generoso]]

+ * [[gente]]

+ * [[genio]]

+ * [[genitore]]

+ * [[la|genus]]

+ * [[fr|genre]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Del genere'' means “like that, of that sort”: ''Non ho mai visto niente del genere.''^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011) ''In genere'' means “usually, generally”, and ''il genere umano'' is mankind.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011) ''Non è il mio genere'' means “it is not to my taste”.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}