oro Italian · revision 38421

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=1264, Tuscan treatise|origins=ine-pro *h₂ews-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈɔ.ro/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''oro''' ''m'' (plural ori)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old forms with the diphthong, such as Venetian ''auro'' (1281–1284), Roman, Neapolitan ''auro'' and Sicilian ''auru'', were common in the north and south; in Tuscan they count as learned.^(LEI|3, 2509) Poetry also has ''auro'' and the shortened ''or''.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|aurum|t=gold]], pronounced early as “ōrum”: Festus notes that country people called the gilthead fish “orata” after the colour of gold, which they said “orum”.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The word lives on in every Romance language: [[fr|or]], [[oc|aur]], [[ca|or]], [[es|oro]], [[pt|ouro]], [[ro|aur]] and Vegliote [[m|dlm|yaur]];^(Nocentini 2010)^(LEI|3, 2509)^(REW 1935) Sardinian “oro” is a loan from Italian.^(Nocentini 2010)^(LEI|3, 2509)^(REW 1935)

+

+ Latin “aurum” goes back to an older [[m|la|ausum]], recorded as Sabine by Festus, and to [[itc-pro|*auzom]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Its closest relatives are [[prg|ausis]] and [[lt|áuksas]], both “gold”; the Tocharian words are explained by de Vaan's source as loans from Uralic.^(Nocentini 2010)^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan reconstructs [[ine-pro|*h₂é-h₂us-o-|t=glow]], Wiktionary also [[m|ine-pro|*h₂éws-o-m]], from the root [[m|ine-pro|*h₂ews-|t=to dawn, shine]] that is also in [[la|aurōra|t=dawn]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto 1968)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is a Tuscan treatise of 1264, for the yellow precious metal.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003) Bono Giamboni, about 1292, describes a palace whose diamond walls were ''lavorate sottilmente ad oro'' (“finely worked with gold”).^(GDLI)^(LEI|3, 2509)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The Latin senses continued without a break: the metal, its colour, things made of gold and gold coin.^(LEI|3, 2509) The ''Novellino'', at the end of the 13th century, uses ''oro'' for a gold coin, Dante (1313–1319) for money and wealth, and Petrarch (1374) for a shining yellow colour;^(DELI 1999) Vasari has the plural for gold objects in 1550.^(DELI 1999) In 1958 the word is recorded for the suit of coins in Neapolitan playing cards.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ Giambattista Vico read the golden age as an “age of grain”, from the colour of ripe wheat.^(DELI 1999) Modern Italian uses ''d'oro'' for anything precious or lucky, such as ''affare d'oro'' “a splendid deal”, ''cuore d'oro'' and ''parole d'oro'', and journalists in the 1990s used it for goods bought by public bodies at inflated prices, as in ''lenzuola d'oro'' “golden sheets”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) ''Oro nero'' is petroleum.^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1264 – A Tuscan treatise uses ''oro'' for the metal.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1281–1284 – Venetian ''auro'' is recorded.^(LEI|3, 2509)

+ * Late 13th century – The ''Novellino'' uses it for a gold coin.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1313–1319 – Dante uses it for wealth.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1374 – Petrarch uses it for the colour of gold.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1550 – Vasari uses the plural for gold objects.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1958 – It is recorded for a suit of Neapolitan cards.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(chemistry)'' [[m|en|gold]], the chemical element with symbol Au and atomic number 79, a soft, heavy, yellow and very malleable noble metal.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # Gold as the precious metal of jewellery and coins: ''una catenina d'oro a diciotto carati''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Gabrielli 2020)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(economics)'' Gold as the basis of a currency: ''riserve d'oro''.^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Money, riches.^(DELI 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The colour of gold, a bright shining yellow: ''capelli d'oro''.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(DELI 1999)

+ # ''(plural)'' Gold objects, jewels: ''gli ori della nonna''.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(plural)'' One of the four suits of Neapolitan playing cards, also called ''denari''.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(DELI 1999)

+ # ''(sport)'' A [[m|en|gold medal]].^(Wiktionary)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(heraldry)'' [[m|en|or]], the gold or yellow tincture.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Gold-coloured, after a noun and invariable: ''un vestito oro''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[orefice]]

+ * [[oreficeria]]

+ * [[orpello]]

+ * [[dorare]]

+ * [[indorare]]

+ * [[similoro]]

+ * [[pandoro]]

+ * [[pomodoro]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[dorato]]

+ * [[aureo]]

+ * [[aureola]]

+ * [[aurifero]]

+ * [[aurora]]

+ * [[la|aurum]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Prendere per oro colato'', literally “to take for molten gold”, means to believe something without question.^(Gabrielli 2020)^(Wiktionary) ''Oro zecchino'' is pure gold, like that of the Venetian sequin.^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}