milione Italian · revision 37915

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=1313–1315, Paolino Minorita|origins=la mīlle}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /miˈljo.ne/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''milione''' ''m'' (plural ''milioni'')^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ Older and popular forms are ''millione'' and ''miglione''.^(Wiktionary)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed [[af|it|mille|-one]], with the augmentative suffix: a “big thousand”.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary)^(Treccani 2011) Nocentini takes it as the augmentative of [[roa-oit|milia|t=thousand]], from [[la|mīlia]], the plural of [[m|la|mīlle|t=thousand]], and Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti also start from the Latin plural.^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) According to Nocentini the Italian word gave [[fr|million]], which passed into English, and [[es|millón]].^(Nocentini 2010) Devoto, on the other hand, derived the Italian word from the French one, DIFIT dates [[fro|millon]] to 1266, before the first Italian record, and the TLIO derives one of its Old Italian nouns from [[fro|million]].^(Devoto 1968)^(DIFIT)^(TLIO)

+

+ De Vaan gives the generally accepted reconstruction of Latin [[m|la|mīlle]] as [[ine-pro|*sm-ih₂-ǵʰes-l-ih₂|t=one thousand]], a phrase of “one” and a word for “heap”, compared with the Indo-Iranian and Greek words for “thousand”.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian Paolino Minorita (1313–1315), and DELI's is a sonnet of Pietro de' Faitinelli of 1315, with “e gente paladina un milione” (and a million paladin people), already in the loose sense “a great many”.^(TLIO)^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) Migliorini, quoted by DELI, linked the new word to the wider horizons that trade opened in the 14th century: about 1330 Iacopo d'Acqui still had to explain it in Latin as a thousand times a thousand pounds, and Giovanni Villani added that “ogni milione è mille migliaia di fiorini d'oro” (each million is a thousand thousands of gold florins).^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Villani also uses the word alone for a sum of money, and the exact number and the hyperbolic “huge quantity” lived side by side from the start.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO) Tommaseo noted that Florentines said ''milione'' with one ⟨l⟩ but ''millionario'' with two.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) ''Milionario'' “millionaire” follows French ''millionnaire'' (1740); DELI and Migliorini tie it to the inflation that followed John Law's financial schemes in France, and Antonio Genovesi used it in 1765 for those “called millionaires in the time of the Paris system”.^(DELI 1999)^(Prati 1951|663) The ordinal ''milionesimo'' dates from the 15th century.^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ In the 20th century ''milione'' was used on its own for a million lire, and now also for a million euros.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011) The word spread to many languages: German ''Million'' is recorded from 1448, and Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Hungarian and Russian, among others, have borrowed it.^(DIFIT)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1266 – French ''millon'' is recorded.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1313–1315 – Paolino Minorita uses ''milione''.^(TLIO)

+ * 1315 – Pietro de' Faitinelli writes ''un milione'' for a great many people.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani explains the word and uses it for a sum of money.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1448 – German ''Million'' is recorded.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1765 – Antonio Genovesi uses ''milionario''.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|million]], a thousand thousands (1,000,000): ''Il ponte è costato tre milioni di euro.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # Used alone, a million units of money (once lire, now euros): ''Dicono che abbia ereditato due milioni dallo zio.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(hyperbolic)'' A huge number: ''In spiaggia c'era un milione di persone.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[milionario]]

+ * [[milionesimo]]

+ * [[milioncino]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mille]]

+ * [[miglio]]

+ * [[fr|million]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Like other number nouns it takes ''di'' before what it counts: ''un milione di stelle''.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(GRADIT 2003) Set phrases include ''a milioni'' “in great numbers” and ''nemmeno per un milione!'' “not for anything!”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}