membro Italian · revision 38314

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1249, Pier della Vigna|origins=ine-pro *mēms-ro-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈmem.bro/, /ˈmɛm.bro/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''membro''' ''m'' (plural (in most meanings) membri m or (referring to limbs) membra f)^(Wiktionary)

+ The plural is ''membra'' (feminine) for the limbs of the body taken together and ''membri'' in the other senses;^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011) Old Italian also had a feminine plural ''membre''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011) An old popular form was [[roa-oit|vembro]].^(DEI|2420)^(Prati 1951|652)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|membrum|t=limb, part of the body]].^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) DELI, GDLI and Zingarelli call it a learned word;^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI|10, 38)^(Nocentini 2010) Nocentini lists it as a Latin word of Indo-European origin.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI|10, 38)^(Nocentini 2010) The Latin word lives on in the west of the Romance area, in [[fr|membre]], [[oc|membre]], [[ca|membre]], [[es|miembro]], [[pt|membro]], [[sc|membru]] and [[fur|nembri]], but not in Romanian.^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)^(Körting 1907) It was also borrowed into Irish.^(DEI|2420)

+

+ The Latin word goes back to [[itc-pro|*memsro-]] and [[ine-pro|*mēms-ro-|t=body part, meaty part]].^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan compares [[sga|mír|t=portion]], [[grc|μηρός|tr=mērós|t=thigh]] and [[m|grc|μῆρα|tr=mêra|t=body parts]], [[sa|मांस|tr=māṃsá|t=meat]], [[cu|мѧсо|tr=męso|t=meat]] and [[got|𐌼𐌹𐌼𐌶|tr=mimz|t=meat]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Nocentini 2010) Most of these mean “flesh”, so the Latin word first meant a fleshy part of the body.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is in Pier della Vigna, who died in 1249, in the sense “limb”.^(DELI 1999)^(Zingarelli 2010) The meaning “penis” follows before 1292 in Bono Giamboni, and in the 13th century Guidotto da Bologna uses ''membro'' in rhetoric for a complete part of a sentence.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the parts of the body the word passed to the parts of any whole, recorded in the 14th century in the Italian translation of Josephus,^(DELI 1999) and later to the parts of a building and of a machine.^(DEI|2420)^(GRADIT 2003) In the sense of a section of a sentence it translates the Greek rhetorical term [[grc|κῶλον|tr=kôlon]].^(DEI|2420)

+

+ The sense “person who belongs to a society” is recorded before 1419 in Giovanni Dominici.^(DELI 1999) It was not at once accepted: when Antonio Cesari published his prize dissertation for the Italian Academy of Livorno in 1810, he would not call himself its ''membro'' but its ''socio''.^(DELI 1999) Today the sense is common in phrases such as ''membro del parlamento'' and ''stato membro''.^(Wiktionary)^(GRADIT 2003) In mathematics the word names each side of an equation.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Before 1249 – Pier della Vigna uses ''membro'' for a limb.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for the penis.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 13th century – Guidotto da Bologna uses it for a part of a sentence.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1419 – Giovanni Dominici uses it for a member of a society.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1810 – Antonio Cesari prefers ''socio'' to ''membro'' of an academy.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(anatomy)'' Each of the parts of the body of a human being or an animal, especially a [[m|en|limb]]; in the plural ''membra'', the body as a whole: ''Dopo la corsa aveva le membra indolenzite.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(anatomy)'' The [[m|en|penis]], also ''membro virile''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # A [[m|en|member]] of a group, a family, an organisation or a body: ''È membro del consiglio comunale da dieci anni.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # Each of the parts that make up a whole, a machine or a building.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(grammar)'' Each of the parts into which a sentence or period can be divided.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(mathematics)'' Each of the two expressions on either side of the sign of an equation or inequality.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[membratura]]

+ * [[membruto]]

+ * [[smembrare]]

+ * [[smembramento]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[membrana]]

+ * [[la|membrum]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}