giornata Italian · revision 37903

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=before 1249, Pier della Vigna}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /d͡ʒorˈna.ta/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''giornata''' ''f'' (plural giornate)^(Wiktionary)

+ Medieval northern spellings include [[roa-oit|zornada]], [[roa-oit|çornata]] and [[roa-oit|iornata]].^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed [[af|it|giorno|-ata]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011) Several sources, however, see French behind it: the GDLI derives it from the Italian noun through [[fr|journée]], and Wiktionary treats it as a borrowing of [[fro|jornee]], recorded in Italian from 1230–1250.^(GDLI|6, 818)^(Wiktionary) The TLIO accepts the Italian derivation but holds that the French word certainly lies behind the borrowed senses.^(TLIO)

+

+ DELI singles out two of these French senses: “journey”, at first of a day's length, and “battle”.^(DELI 1999) Machiavelli remarked in his “Discorsi” (1515–1517) on “zuffe campali, chiamate ne' nostri tempi con vocabolo francese giornate, e dagl'Italiani fatti d'arme” (pitched battles, called in our times by the French word “giornate”, and by Italians ''fatti d'arme'').^(DELI 1999) DEI also treats the military sense as a calque of the French word, and notes that the Old French noun for a day's travel passed into English as [[m|en|journey]].^(DEI|1813)^(GDLI|6, 818)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI's first record is Pier della Vigna (before 1249), in the sense “the time between dawn and sunset, considered for what happens in it or how it is spent”.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) The TLIO's earliest text is the Cremonese Ugo di Perso, from the first half of the 13th century; in the 13th century the word also meant “day's journey” (Abate di Tivoli) and, at Siena, the day on which a court sat.^(TLIO)^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|1813)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old Italian also used ''giornata'' for a turn of duty, an appointed meeting, and figuratively for the whole course of a life, often with its end in view.^(TLIO) Tommaseo defined it as the span from getting up to going to bed, and stressed its use for a day marked by what happens in it.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861|2, 1081) The day's pay is recorded in Vasari (1550) and the battle in Machiavelli (before 1527).^(DELI 1999)

+

+ Carducci (1895) spoke of the ''Cinque giornate'' of Milan, the five days of the 1848 rising, and the sense “day devoted to a celebration or cause” is recorded in 1956, the football “matchday” in 1965.^(DELI 1999) In Piedmont the ''giornata'' was a land measure: Galanti (1795) wrote that a ''giornata di vigna'' is the area a peasant of average strength can work in a day.^(DELI 1999)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) That measure is the one sense German borrowed, as ''Giornata''.^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Before 1249 – Pier della Vigna uses ''giornata'' for a day.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 13th century – The sense “day's journey” appears in the Abate di Tivoli.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1515–1517 – Machiavelli calls ''giornate'' a French word for battles.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1550 – Vasari uses it for a day's pay.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1795 – Galanti records the Piedmontese land measure.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1895 – Carducci writes of the ''Cinque giornate'' of Milan.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1956 – The sense “day devoted to a cause” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1965 – The football sense “matchday” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|day]], especially the daytime from morning to evening, with regard to the weather or how it is spent: ''Abbiamo passato una giornata splendida al lago.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' ''non è giornata'': it is not one's day, said when things go wrong or one is in a bad mood.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # A working day; a day's [[m|en|wage]]: ''guadagnarsi la giornata''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # A day devoted to a celebration or cause: ''giornata mondiale dell'ambiente''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # A day of historic events; a day of battle, or the [[m|en|battle]] itself: ''giornata campale''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # A day's journey: ''Il santuario è a una giornata di cammino.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(sport)'' A round of matches in a league, a [[m|en|matchday]].^(DELI 1999)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(historical)'' In Piedmont, a land measure, the area ploughed by a pair of oxen in a day.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[giornataccia]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[giorno]]

+ * [[giornale]]

+ * [[giornaliero]]

+ * [[fr|journée]]

+ * [[en|journey]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Common phrases are ''vivere alla giornata'', to live from day to day, ''lavorare a giornata'', to work by the day, ''in giornata'', within the day, and ''andare a giornate'', to be moody or uneven.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}