rosa Italian · revision 38787

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=1231–1250, Cielo d'Alcamo|origins=la rosa}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈrɔ.za/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''rosa''' ''f'' (plural rose, diminutive (uncommon) rosèlla or rosellìna (diminutive of diminutive) or rosétta or rosettìna (diminutive of diminutive))^(Wiktionary)

+ Old and dialect forms include ''riòsa'', ''ròxa'', ''ròza'' and ''ruòxa''.^(GDLI)^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|rosa]], which meant both the flower and the rosebush.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The same word is [[fr|rose]], [[oc|rosa]], [[ca|rosa]], [[es|rosa]] and [[pt|rosa]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) Meyer-Lübke and Körting thought that the word was everywhere shaped by the language of books, botanists and poets.^(REW 1935)^(Körting 1907)

+

+ The Latin word is related to [[grc|ῥόδον|tr=rhódon]] and an Iranian word for the rose, but it is not of Indo-European origin: Ernout and Meillet took it to be a loan from a Mediterranean civilization that cultivated the plant, perhaps Semitic.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) Nocentini derives the Greek word from an earlier [[m|grc|*wṛdo-]], from [[ira-pro|*wṛda-]], said first of the dog rose.^(Nocentini 2010) Wiktionary suggests the Latin form came from a variant of the Greek, perhaps through another Italic language or an Aeolic [[m|grc|*ῥοζά|tr=*rhozá]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Cielo d'Alcamo's ''contrasto'' (1231–1250) opens with ''Rosa fresca aulentissima'', “fresh and most fragrant rose”, addressed to a woman.^(DELI 1999) The flower is thus the first sense; the shrub is recorded about 1340 in the translation of Palladius.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Before 1257 Bonagiunta uses the word in poetry for the rosy colour of cheeks and lips, and Boccaccio for a red mark on the skin, which women called ''rose''.^(DELI 1999) The flower stood for beauty and youth, and in Ariosto for a girl's virginity.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) The ''rosa dei venti'', the compass rose, is named after the flower-like early drawings of the directions of the winds.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ In 1771 a Piedmontese law uses the word for a group of persons, the sense of a shortlist of candidates and, in sport, of a team's squad.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) Giusti in 1842 described the spread of shot from a gun as ''far la rosa''.^(DELI 1999) As an invariable noun and adjective ''rosa'' is the colour pink (adjective 1420, noun 1885); it also came to mean sentimental or romantic, as in ''romanzo rosa'' and ''cronaca rosa'', gossip.^(DELI 1999)^(Wiktionary) The ''maglia rosa'' of the Giro d'Italia takes its colour from the paper of the ''Gazzetta dello Sport''.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1231–1250 – Cielo d'Alcamo writes ''Rosa fresca aulentissima''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1257 – Bonagiunta uses ''rosa'' for the colour of the cheeks.^(DELI 1999)

+ * c. 1340 – The shrub is named in the translation of Palladius.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for a red mark on the skin.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1420 – Saviozzo uses ''rosa'' as an adjective of colour.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1771 – A Piedmontese law uses it for a group of persons.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1842 – Giusti uses ''far la rosa'' of the spread of shot.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1885 – The noun ''rosa'' “pink” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|rose]], the fragrant flower with a long thorny stem: ''Le ho regalato dodici rose rosse.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # The rosebush, any thorny shrub of the genus ''Rosa''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A beautiful young woman; in literature, a girl's virginity.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # A [[m|en|shortlist]] of selected candidates for a post or prize: ''la rosa dei finalisti''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(sport)'' The squad of a team.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary)^(Wikizionario)

+ # An object shaped like a rose, such as a rose window ([[rosone]]) or the round spread of shot from a gun.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(DELI 1999)

+ # ''(heraldry)'' The rose as a heraldic figure.^(Wiktionary)^(Wikizionario)

+ # (''masculine, invariable'') The colour pink.^(DELI 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # (''invariable'') [[m|en|pink|alt=Pink]]: ''un vestito rosa''.^(DELI 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # (''invariable'') Sentimental, romantic, of novels and films; of news, about the private life of famous people: ''la stampa rosa''.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[rosaceo]]

+ * [[rosaio]]

+ * [[rosario]]

+ * [[rosato]]

+ * [[roseo]]

+ * [[roseola]]

+ * [[roseto]]

+ * [[rosetta]]

+ * [[rosolaccio]]

+ * [[rosolia]]

+ * [[rosone]]

+ * [[rosé]]

+ * [[rosellina]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|rosa]]

+ * [[grc|ῥόδον|tr=rhódon]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A second ''rosa'', pronounced with a closed /o/, is a regional and old word: the feminine of ''roso'', past participle of ''rodere'' “to gnaw”, it means a place eaten away by water (about 1400, Viviani 1688) and in Tuscany an itch.^(GRADIT 2003)^(DEI|3282)^(GDLI)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) Proverbs include ''non c'è rosa senza spine'', every joy has its trouble, and ''se son rose fioriranno'', time will tell.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}