albero Italian · revision 38164

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=late 12th century, Proverbia quae dicuntur (Venetian)|origins=la arbor}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈal.be.ro/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''albero''' ''m'' (plural alberi, diminutive alberèllo or alberétto or alberìno, augmentative alberóne, pejorative alberàccio, derogatory alberùccio)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old and poetic forms are [[arbore]] and [[albore]], also feminine, and ''alboro''.^(DELI 1999)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)^(DEI|109)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|arbor|alt=arborem|t=tree]], the accusative of the Latin word.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Wiktionary) The first “r” became “l” by dissimilation from the second, as DELI and Devoto explain it, and Wiktionary traces the word through the older forms [[albore]] and [[roa-oit|alboro]].^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto 1968)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary) Nocentini instead puts the “l” down to the influence of the other “albero”, the white poplar (see Usage notes).^(Nocentini 2010) Latin “arbor” was feminine, and the feminine survives only in Logudorese and Portuguese.^(DEI|109)^(REW 1935)

+

+ The word is found in all the Romance languages: [[fr|arbre]], [[oc|arbre]], [[ca|arbre]], [[es|árbol]], [[pt|árvore]], [[sc|àrbere]] and [[ro|arbore]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) The mast of a ship had its own name in Latin, [[la|mālus]], but this did not survive in Romance.^(DEI|109)

+

+ The Latin word had an older nominative [[m|la|arbōs]].^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008) Nocentini finds no comparisons in other languages.^(Nocentini 2010) De Vaan connects it with [[m|la|arduus|t=high, steep]] and reconstructs [[ine-pro|*h₃rdʰ-ōs|t=height, uprightness]], whose meaning may have narrowed to “upright tree”, but notes that this would be a very archaic formation.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian ''Proverbia quae dicuntur'' of the late 12th century.^(TLIO) DELI finds ''albore'' in Pier della Vigna before 1249, ''arbore'' in Bonagiunta Orbicciani before 1257 and ''albero'' in the ''Novellino'' at the end of the 13th century, in the sense of a perennial plant with a woody trunk that branches higher up.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Dante used the word before 1321 for the mast of a ship.^(DELI 1999) Old Italian also used it for wood as a material, for the Cross, and for a family's descent.^(TLIO) ''Albero della genealogia'' is found in Vasari in 1550, and ''albero genealogico'' in 1771, after French ''arbre généalogique'' (1671).^(DELI 1999)

+

+ Branching structures in anatomy took the name in the 18th century: ''albero della vita'' for the white matter of the cerebellum in 1797, and ''albero bronchiale'' in 1941.^(DELI 1999) In 1797 D'Alberti also recorded the mechanical sense, a rotating shaft that transmits power.^(DELI 1999) ''Albero di Natale'' is a calque of German ''Weihnachtsbaum'', and the breadfruit tree, ''albero del pane'', is named for its fruit, which is cooked and eaten like bread.^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) The word was later taken up for trees in graph theory, computing and syntax.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ The verb [[alberare]] meant “to set up the masts of a ship” in Luigi Pulci in 1483, and only in 1855 “to plant trees”.^(DELI 1999) [[inalberare|alt=Inalberare]] dates from the second half of the 14th century, and Sacchetti used ''inalberarsi'' for a horse rearing up and for a person flaring up.^(Nocentini 2010)^(Prati 1951|34)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 12th century – The word in the Venetian ''Proverbia quae dicuntur''.^(TLIO)

+ * Before 1249 – ''Albore'' in Pier della Vigna.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1257 – ''Arbore'' in Bonagiunta Orbicciani.^(DELI 1999)

+ * End of the 13th century – ''Albero'' in the ''Novellino''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1321 – Dante uses the word for a ship's mast.^(DELI 1999)

+ * About 1350 – ''Albereto'' “grove” in the translation of Pietro de' Crescenzi.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1550 – ''Albero della genealogia'' in Vasari.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1771 – ''Albero genealogico'', after French ''arbre généalogique''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1797 – The mechanical sense “shaft” in D'Alberti's dictionary.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1941 – ''Albero bronchiale'' in the dictionary of the Accademia d'Italia.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|tree]], a perennial plant with a woody trunk and branches starting some way above the ground: ''Dietro la casa abbiamo piantato tre alberi da frutto.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # In the names of particular plants: ''albero del pane'' (breadfruit), ''albero di Giuda'' (Judas tree).^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(nautical)'' A [[m|en|mast]]: ''albero di maestra'' (mainmast).^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # A branching diagram that shows relations of descent or derivation: ''albero genealogico'' (family tree).^(GRADIT 2003)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(mathematics)'' A connected graph without cycles.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # ''(linguistics)'' A diagram of the structure of a sentence.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # ''(computing)'' A data structure arranged like a tree.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(anatomy)'' A branching structure: ''albero bronchiale'', ''albero vascolare''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(mechanics)'' A [[m|en|shaft]] that receives or transmits motion: ''albero motore'', ''albero a camme'' (camshaft).^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[alberare]]

+ * [[alberata]]

+ * [[alberatura]]

+ * [[albereto]]

+ * [[alberello]]

+ * [[inalberare]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[arboreo]]

+ * [[arboricoltura]]

+ * [[arbusto]]

+ * [[arboscello]]

+ * [[arborescente]]

+ * [[la|arbor]]

+ * [[fr|arbre]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A second ''albero'', a technical and Tuscan word for the white poplar (also ''albaro''), comes from Late Latin ''albarus'', a derivative of ''albus'' “white” found in glosses.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020)^(LEI) The TLIO records it in a Pistoia document after 1291, and GRADIT dates it to 1499.^(TLIO)^(GRADIT 2003) German borrowed it in 1572 as ''Alberbaum''.^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}