americano Italian · revision 37961

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1751, Ferdinando Galiani}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /a.me.riˈka.no/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''americano''' (feminine americana, masculine plural americani, feminine plural americane)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed [[af|it|America|-ano]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary) The same derivative is [[fr|américain]] and [[es|americano]].^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ The continent is named after the navigator Amerigo Vespucci (1454–1512). The name was coined by the geographer Martin Waldseemüller in his Cosmographiae Introductio, printed at Saint-Dié in 1507, and at first meant only South America.^(LEI|2, 762)^(DEI) The LEI explains the Latin feminine form, stressed on the third syllable from the end, by names such as [[la|Africa]] and [[m|la|Gallica]];^(LEI|2, 762)^(DEI) DEI instead takes the Italian name as an adaptation of [[fr|Amérique]], on the pattern of Attica.^(LEI|2, 762)^(DEI) Vespucci himself called the continent the New World, and the official Spanish name until the end of the 16th century was [[es|Indias]].^(DEI) Nocentini notes the name on Dutch nautical charts of the first half of the 16th century.^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI's first record is Ferdinando Galiani in 1751, with the sense “of America”, often referring to the United States.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003) Zingarelli dates the word to 1697.^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A rare Venetian ''almerigo'' “American” is recorded in 1609.^(LEI|2, 762) ''Americano'' also named an emigrant who came home from America with money, and America itself became a byword for easy riches, whence ''zio d'America'' “a rich uncle overseas” from 1891.^(Prati 1951)^(LEI|2, 762) In some dialects the word came to mean “strange, unknown”: Sicilian calls the bullfinch ''pàssaru americanu'', and in Trentino unidentifiable birds are ''osèi mericani''.^(Prati 1951) On the islands of the Tuscan archipelago the bluefish is ''americano'', because fishermen saw it appear with the American convoys of the Second World War.^(Cortelazzo & Marcato 1998)

+

+ As a noun ''americano'' names an aperitif of vermouth, bitters and soda from 1908.^(DELI 1999)^(Prati 1951) Derivatives followed: ''americanata'' (1877), ''americanismo'' (1882), from English, ''americanista'' (1892) and ''americanizzare'' (1922), from French.^(Nocentini 2010)^(LEI|2, 762) The phrase ''all'americana'' gave ''confronto all'americana'' “identity parade” and ''truffa all'americana'', a swindle by someone posing as a rich foreigner.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1697 – Zingarelli's date for ''americano''.^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ * 1751 – Ferdinando Galiani uses ''americano''.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1877 – ''Americanata'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1882 – ''Americanismo'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1908 – Panzini records ''americano'' as the name of an aperitif.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1922 – ''Americanizzare'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of the [[m|en|Americas]]: ''i grandi fiumi americani''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # Of the [[m|en|United States]], American: ''Ha studiato in un'università americana.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # An [[m|en|American]], a native or inhabitant of the Americas, especially of the United States: ''Molti americani visitano Firenze ogni estate.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+ # American English (singular only).^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # An [[m|en|aperitif]] of red vermouth, bitters and soda with lemon peel.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(accounting)'' A kind of general ledger showing the accounts of the subsidiary ledgers.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[americana]]

+ * [[americanata]]

+ * [[americanismo]]

+ * [[americanista]]

+ * [[americanizzare]]

+ * [[americanizzazione]]

+ * [[antiamericano]]

+ * [[interamericano]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[America]]

+ * [[angloamericano]]

+ * [[fr|américain]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''All'americana'' means “in the American manner”;^(Devoto–Oli 2026) ''buffet all'americana'' is a buffet where guests eat standing.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}