memoria Italian · revision 38479

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1238|origins=la memor}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /meˈmɔ.rja/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''memoria''' ''f'' (plural memorie)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old forms include [[roa-oit|memora]] and [[m|roa-oit|mimoria]], and a masculine [[m|roa-oit|memoro]] in the 14th–16th centuries.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI)^(DEI|2420)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|memoria|t=memory; remembrance]], a learned word, formed in Latin from [[m|la|memor|t=mindful, remembering]] with the suffix [[m|la|-ia]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) DEI notes that the word is found in all Italian dialects and in all the western Romance languages, but never as a popular development: [[fr|mémoire]], [[ca|memòria]], [[es|memoria]] and [[pt|memória]] are learned too.^(DEI|2420)^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) Popular reshapings occur in the dialects, such as [[lmo|marmoria]] and [[fur|malmueria]].^(REW 1935)

+

+ The origin of Latin “memor” is disputed: one view takes it as a reduplicated form of [[ine-pro|*(s)mer-|t=to think, remember]], another derives it from [[itc-pro|*memnos]], a reduplication of [[ine-pro|*men-|t=to think]], with the stem changed.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Nocentini dates the first record to before 1238.^(Nocentini 2010) DELI's earliest forms are ''memora'' in Ubertino d'Arezzo (13th century) and in Guittone d'Arezzo, and ''memoria'' in Brunetto Latini, who defines it before 1294 as “fermo ricevimento nell'animo delle cose e delle parole e dell'ordinamento d'esse” (“the firm reception in the mind of things and words and of their order”).^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Dante (1304–1308) uses the word for the image of something kept in the mind, and (1300–1313) for an event that lives again in memory; in the 14th century it also meant an object that brings something back to mind, and already in Brunetto Latini a person or thing worth remembering.^(DELI 1999) Merchants' documents of 1368 and 1375 use it for a written note, a sense Bernardino of Siena has in 1427, and in the plural it came to mean memoirs (1600, G. Sassetti).^(DELI 1999)

+

+ In the 20th century the word was applied to machines: first to a mechanical device that makes a machine repeat a set task (1948), then to the part of a computer that stores data and programs (1961), on the model of English ''memory'' (from 1946).^(DELI 1999)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) In southern dialects, in Sardinia and at Pisa ''memoria'' also names the forehead, the back of the head or the temples, places people thought of as the seat of memory.^(REW 1935)^(Cortelazzo & Marcato 1998)^(DEI|2420)

+

+ Derivatives include [[memoriale]] (before 1292), from Latin ''memoriālis'', [[promemoria]] (second half of the 18th century), from the Latin phrase ''pro memoria'', and [[memorizzare]] (1859), from French ''mémoriser''.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Before 1238 – First record.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * Before 1292 – ''Memoriale'' is recorded in Bono Giamboni.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini defines ''memoria''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1304–1308 – Dante uses it for an image kept in the mind.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1368 – A merchant's document uses it for a written note.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1600 – The sense “memoirs” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1859 – ''Memorizzare'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1946 – English ''memory'' is used for computer storage.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1961 – ''Memoria'' is used for the memory of a computer.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|memory]]: the faculty of keeping and recalling past experience and knowledge: ''Ha una memoria straordinaria per i numeri di telefono.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # A [[m|en|recollection]], the remembrance of a person, a thing or an event: ''Conserva una memoria felice di quell'estate al mare.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # (in the plural) [[m|en|memoir|alt=Memoirs]], an account of one's own life; also past events kept in a people's tradition.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A relic or document that bears witness to the past; a keepsake.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # A short paper on a learned or scientific subject, ''(law)'' a written statement submitted by a party.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wikizionario)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(computing)'' The memory of a computer, the part that stores data and programs.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(mechanics)'' A device that makes a machine repeat a set task automatically.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[memoriale]]

+ * [[memorialista]]

+ * [[memorizzare]]

+ * [[memorizzazione]]

+ * [[promemoria]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[memorabile]]

+ * [[memorandum]]

+ * [[memore]]

+ * [[memorevole]]

+ * [[la|memoria]]

+ * [[fr|mémoire]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Imparare'', ''sapere a memoria'' is to learn, to know by heart;^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020) ''a memoria d'uomo'' means “as far back as anyone can remember”, and a ''medaglia alla memoria'' is awarded posthumously.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}