normale Italian · revision 37963

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1683, Giovanni Battista Guarini|origins=la norma}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /norˈma.le/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''normale''' (plural normali, superlative normalissimo)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|normālis|t=made with a carpenter's square, perpendicular]], from [[m|la|norma|t=carpenter's square; rule]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(OLD 2012) GRADIT and Sabatini–Coletti also point to [[fr|normal]], recorded from the early 15th century, and DELI notes that the derivatives [[m|fr|normalité]] and [[m|fr|normaliser]] also reached Italian.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(DELI 1999) DEI calls it a learned word and takes the school sense, ⟨scuola normale⟩, from French ⟨école normale⟩.^(DEI|2600)

+

+ The origin of [[m|la|norma]] is uncertain.^(DELI 1999) Nocentini explains it as an adaptation of the accusative of [[grc|γνώμων|tr=gnṓmōn|t=carpenter's square, gnomon]], through forms like ⟨*gnomna⟩ and ⟨*gnorma⟩, and finds the Etruscan intermediary usually assumed unnecessary;^(Nocentini 2010)^(Wiktionary) Wiktionary allows a route through Etruscan.^(Nocentini 2010)^(Wiktionary) The Greek word goes back to [[ine-pro|*ǵneh₃-|t=to know]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI's first record is the noun ''normale'' “perpendicular line”, in Giovanni Battista Guarini, who died in 1612; it gives the date as before 1683, and GRADIT has the same date.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) The adjective in the sense “conforming to a rule or to the usual course of things” is recorded in 1791, in the newspaper ''Notizie del mondo''.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 19th century ''normale'' spread through public and scientific language: Cavour and De Sanctis wrote of a return to the ''stato normale'' and of the ''vita normale''.^(GDLI|11, 553) The ''scuole normali'' trained elementary teachers, meant as a model for all other schools, until the ''istituti magistrali'' replaced them in 1923, and the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa was founded in 1813.^(Treccani 2011) Tommaseo commented sourly that their pupils learned trivial rules instead of common norms.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

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+ ''Normalità'' is recorded in 1869.^(DELI 1999) ''Normalizzare'' was in 1923 a political word of the anti-fascists, “to return to the conditions before the March on Rome”, and in technology it meant “to standardize” by 1942; after 1968 ''normalizzazione'' took a pejorative sense, “restoration of order”, from Russian, with the occupation of Czechoslovakia.^(DELI 1999) In mountaineering the ''via normale'', or ''la normale'', is the usual route to a summit (1970).^(DELI 1999)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Before 1683 – ''Normale'' “perpendicular line” is recorded in Guarini.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1791 – The adjective “normal” appears in ''Notizie del mondo''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1813 – The Scuola Normale Superiore is founded at Pisa.^(Treccani 2011)

+ * 1869 – ''Normalità'' is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1923 – ''Normalizzare'' is used in politics.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1923 – The ''scuole normali'' are replaced by the ''istituti magistrali''.^(Treccani 2011)

+ * 1970 – ''Normale'' “usual climbing route” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|normal]], in line with the norm or with set parameters: ''La pressione è normale.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # Usual, [[m|en|ordinary]], not exceptional: ''Era una giornata normale'', ''è normale che tu sia stanco''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # Of a person, sane, without eccentricities; in the negative often disapproving: ''Non è normale arrabbiarsi così.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # That gives a norm or serves as a standard: a ''lettera normale'' is a circular from a central office; a ''pila normale'' is a reference cell.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(geometry)'' [[m|en|perpendicular]]: ''una retta normale al piano''.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(chemistry)'' Of a solution, containing one gram-equivalent of solute per litre.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(statistics)'' ''distribuzione normale'': the normal distribution.^(Treccani 2011)^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''il normale'': what is normal, the usual level: ''Le temperature sono sopra il normale.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''la normale'': ''(geometry)'' a perpendicular line, ''(mountaineering)'' the usual route to a summit.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(DELI 1999)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' Regular petrol.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[normalità]]

+ * [[normalizzare]]

+ * [[normalmente]]

+ * [[paranormale]]

+ * [[subnormale]]

+ * [[normalista]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[anormale]]

+ * [[norma]]

+ * [[normativo]]

+ * [[la|normālis]]

+ * [[fr|normal]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''La Normale'' alone means the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa.^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020) ''Tariffa normale'' is the full fare, without any reduction.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}