classe Italian · revision 38175

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1321, Dante|origins=la classis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈklas.se/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''classe''' ''f'' (plural classi)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a learned word, [[bor|la|classis|t=division of the Roman people; levy; fleet]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) In several modern senses it was influenced by [[fr|classe]].^(DEI|975) The popular outcome of the same Latin word is [[chiasso]] “alley”, found at Lucca in 769.^(Nocentini 2010)^(LEI)

+

+ The ancients connected the Latin noun with [[m|la|calō|t=to call out, summon]], and Nocentini thinks this the most sensible proposal: the first sense would have been “a calling out”, then a class of citizens called to arms, an army and finally a fleet.^(Nocentini 2010)^(de Vaan 2008)^(GDLI) De Vaan reconstructs [[itc-pro|*klāssis|t=call-out, appeal]] and [[ine-pro|*klh₁-d(h)-ti-|t=a call]], but calls this a paper reconstruction, since the formation has no outside support and the double ⟨ss⟩ would be expected to simplify after a long vowel.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) A link with [[grc|κέλαδος|tr=kélados|t=noise]], which Devoto accepted, de Vaan finds semantically unattractive, and DELI and DEI allow an Etruscan origin.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Devoto 1968)^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|975)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is in Dante, before 1321, in the Latin sense “fleet”, the only sense the TLIO records for Old Italian.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO)^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The modern senses came later.^(DELI 1999) In 1612–1613 Traiano Boccalini wrote ''di prima classe'' for something first-rate, and in 1623 Giambattista Marino used the word for a group of animals or things with common features, a use of the natural sciences, which began to classify systematically in the 17th century.^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) From the natural sciences 18th-century economists took it for a social group, first recorded in Galiani in 1705.^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) Tullio De Mauro showed in 1958 that this sense came neither from Marx nor straight from Latin through the economists alone, and Marx's thought later defined and spread it.^(DELI 1999)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ Giambattista Vico used the word in 1725 for a group of pupils at the same stage of study, and the sense “classroom” appears in 1910 in Marino Moretti.^(DELI 1999) Cavour, before 1861, used it for the soldiers of one year's levy.^(DELI 1999) Classes on means of transport are recorded from 1858, and ''di classe'' “classy, of high quality” from 1935.^(DELI 1999) Gaetano Mosca wrote of the ''classe politica'' in 1883.^(DEI|975)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Before 1321 – Dante uses ''classe'' for a fleet.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO)

+ * 1612–1613 – Boccalini writes ''di prima classe''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1623 – Marino uses it for a group of things or animals.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1705 – Galiani uses it for a social group.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1725 – Vico uses it for a group of pupils.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1858 – Classes on means of transport are recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1861 – Cavour uses it for a year's levy of soldiers.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1883 – Gaetano Mosca writes of the ''classe politica''.^(DEI|975)

+ * 1910 – Marino Moretti uses it for a classroom.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1935 – ''Di classe'' “classy” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(history)'' Each of the five census groups into which the citizens of ancient Rome were divided.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # A social [[m|en|class]]: a stratum of society sharing an economic and social condition: ''la classe operaia''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # The people who practise the same profession: ''la classe forense''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # A group of things with shared features, a [[m|en|category]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(biology)'' A taxonomic rank above order and below phylum.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(mathematics, computing)'' A set, and in programming the abstract description of a kind of object.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary)^(Wikizionario)

+ # ''(military)'' The soldiers of one year's levy, and by extension all the people born in the same year: ''Sono della classe 1990.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # A school year or form, and the pupils in it: ''Mia figlia fa la terza classe.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # A [[m|en|classroom]]: ''Il professore è appena entrato in classe.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(DELI 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A category of service on trains, ships and aircraft: ''viaggiare in prima classe''.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Distinction, high quality: ''un giocatore di classe''.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(DELI 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[classificare]]

+ * [[classifica]]

+ * [[classificazione]]

+ * [[classismo]]

+ * [[classista]]

+ * [[fuoriclasse]]

+ * [[declassare]]

+ * [[surclassare]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[classico]]

+ * [[chiasso]]

+ * [[la|classis]]

+ * [[fr|classe]]

+ * [[en|class]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Lotta di classe'' (class struggle), ''coscienza di classe'' (class consciousness), ''classe dirigente'' (ruling class) and ''classe politica'' (the political class) are common phrases.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020) ''Classe media'' translates English ''middle class''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}