liceo Italian · revision 38834

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1544, Matteo Bandello|origins=grc Λύκειον}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /liˈt͡ʃɛ.o/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''liceo''' ''m'' (plural licei)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a learned word, [[bor|la|Lycēum]], from [[grc|Λύκειον|tr=Lúkeion]], the name of the place near Athens where Aristotle taught.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) The place was named after the nearby temple of Apollo Lykeios, [[m|grc|Λύκειος|tr=Lúkeios]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) The meaning of the epithet is uncertain: Nocentini explains it as “wolf-killer”, [[m|grc|λυκοκτόνος|tr=lukoktónos]], and Devoto–Oli adds the alternatives “raised in Lycia” and “god of light”.^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Wiktionary)

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+ In the 16th century Claudio Tolomei gave the name to the academy he set up in his house, and only in the 19th century did it come to mean a secondary school.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) The same word is [[fr|lycée]] (1568 historical, 1807 a school), [[es|liceo]] and [[de|Lyzeum]] (1569).^(DEI|2225)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI's first record is Matteo Bandello (1544), for the famous school in Athens where Aristotle taught philosophy.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) Giovanni de' Bardi explained the place after Pausanias: named after Lycus, son of Pandion, built by Pericles, dedicated to Apollo, and the place where Aristotle taught ''passeggiando'', walking about, for thirteen years.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the 17th century the word could mean any school or university, as in Pallavicino and Parini, and the Aristotelian school itself, as when Galileo mocked the “deep recesses of the Liceo”.^(Prati 1951|591)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)^(Zingarelli 2010) The modern sense, a five-year upper secondary school preparing for university, is recorded in 1802 in the ''Bollettino delle leggi della Repubblica italiana'', and the building that houses it in 1858.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ''Liceale'', of a liceo, appears in 1854 and as a noun, a liceo pupil, in Carducci (1877); Tommaseo in 1869 found it “not beautiful, but in use”.^(DELI 1999) The older ''liceista'' is recorded in 1839 as a Tuscan word.^(DELI 1999) Today the types include ''liceo classico'', ''scientifico'', ''linguistico'' and ''artistico''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1544 – Matteo Bandello uses ''liceo'' for Aristotle's school.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1568 – French ''lycée'' is recorded in the historical sense.^(DEI|2225)

+ * 1802 – It names a secondary school in the laws of the Italian Republic.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1807 – French ''lycée'' is recorded as a school.^(DEI|2225)

+ * 1839 – ''Liceista'' “liceo pupil” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1854 – ''Liceale'' is recorded.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1858 – Antonio Guadagnoli uses it for the school building.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An Italian upper secondary school preparing for university, with a general cultural education: ''Mia sorella frequenta il liceo scientifico.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The building of such a school: ''Davanti al liceo c'era una folla di studenti.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(history)'' The Lyceum, the gymnasium near Athens where Aristotle taught; by extension, Aristotelian philosophy.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(obsolete)'' A school of higher learning, an [[m|en|academy]] or university.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[liceale]]

+ * [[liceista]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fr|lycée]]

+ * [[la|Lyceum]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ A separate learned adjective ''liceo'' (1834), from Greek ''Lýkeios'' or ''Lýkaios'', is the epithet of Apollo, and of Zeus and Pan after Mount Lykaion in Arcadia.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011) The GDLI also records an Old Sicilian ''liceo'' “greedy, eager”, derived from Sicilian ''liccu''.^(GDLI)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}