lezione Italian · revision 38148

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1306, Iacopone da Todi|origins=la legō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /letˈt͡sjo.ne/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lezione''' ''f'' (plural lezioni)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old forms include ''lecione'', ''leczione'' and ''lezzione''.^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a learned word, [[bor|la|lectiō|t=reading; selection]], a noun of action from [[m|la|lēctus]], the past participle of [[m|la|legō|t=to gather; to read]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) In its first centuries the Italian word kept the Latin sense “reading”.^(DELI 1999) The Latin verb first meant “to gather, collect”, and de Vaan traces the shift to “read” through “to watch, attend to”; it goes back to Proto-Indo-European [[m|ine-pro|*leǵ-|t=to collect]], as does [[grc|λέγω|tr=légō|t=to gather; to speak]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ The Latin noun gave [[fro|leçon]] and [[fro|leichon]] in the 11th century, and, from French came [[enm|lessun]] and modern English [[m|en|lesson]].^(DEI|2218)^(GDLI) [[es|lección]] has the same source.^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) The philological sense, “reading of a text”, was known in antiquity and taken up again by the humanists.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is in Iacopone da Todi in 1306, with the sense “reading”.^(DELI 1999) Dante writes to the reader of the ''Inferno'' “Dio ti lasci, lettor, prender frutto / di tua lezione” (may God let you, reader, take fruit from your reading).^(GRADIT 2003)^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 14th century ''lezione'' was also a passage of Scripture read in the divine office, and Domenico Cavalca, before 1342, uses it for teaching and instruction.^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|2218)^(GRADIT 2003) In medieval universities a lesson was the reading and explanation of a text.^(Treccani 2011)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ The school sense, the teaching given at one time to one or more pupils, is in Giovan Battista Gelli before 1563, and the material set to be learned in 1618.^(DELI 1999) Stefano Guazzo uses the word in 1574 for an academic lecture, and an annotated Decameron of 1573 for the reading of a word or passage in a manuscript, the sense of textual criticism.^(DELI 1999) Guicciardini, before 1540, already uses ''lezione'' for a scolding or punishment, as in ''dare una lezione a qualcuno''.^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses ''lezione'' for “reading”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses it for instruction.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * Before 1540 – Guicciardini uses it for a scolding or punishment.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1563 – Giovan Battista Gelli uses it for a lesson taught.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1573 – The philological sense, the reading of a manuscript, is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1574 – Stefano Guazzo uses it for an academic lecture.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1618 – Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger uses it for the material to be learned.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|lesson]] or [[m|en|class]]: a period of teaching given by a teacher to one or more pupils: ''Il martedì ho lezione di chitarra.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The material to be studied or learned for a lesson: ''Hai ripassato la lezione?''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(in the plural)'' The published content of a course: ''lezioni di diritto privato''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # A [[m|en|lecture]], an academic address.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(figurative)'' An example to learn from; a [[m|en|reprimand]] or punishment: ''Quella sconfitta gli è servita da lezione.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(philology)'' A [[m|en|reading]], the form in which a word or passage appears in a manuscript or edition.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(Christianity)'' A passage of Scripture read in the office or the Mass.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(archaic)'' Reading.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[lezioncina]]

+ * [[lezionario]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[leggere]]

+ * [[lettore]]

+ * [[lettura]]

+ * [[fr|leçon]]

+ * [[en|lesson]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Fare lezione'' is “to teach a class”, ''dare'' and ''prendere lezioni'' “to give, take lessons”, and ''dare una lezione a qualcuno'' “to teach someone a lesson”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) A separate obsolete ''lezione'' meant “election, choice”: it is [[elezione]] with the first vowel dropped, used by Giovanni Villani and others in the 14th century.^(DEI|2218)^(GDLI)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}