popolo Italian · revision 38888

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=1180–1210, Ravenna poem|origins=itc-pro *poplos}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈpɔ.po.lo/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''popolo''' ''m'' (plural popoli)^(Wiktionary)

+ Older forms include [[roa-oit|povolo]], [[m|roa-oit|puovolo]], [[m|roa-oit|povoro]], [[m|roa-oit|povo]] and [[m|roa-oit|populo]].^(TLIO) Northern forms such as Old Venetian ''puovolo'', Old Lombard ''povoro'' and Old Genoese ''povo'' continue the Latin word by regular sound change.^(REW 1935)^(DEI|3018)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|populus|t=people, body of citizens]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) DELI calls the Tuscan form learned and DEI semi-learned, since it keeps the /p/ between vowels, while the Old Italian forms with /v/ show the popular development.^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|3018)^(TLIO) The word is found across Romance: [[fr|peuple]], [[oc|poble]], [[ca|poble]], [[es|pueblo]], [[pt|povo]], [[sc|pobulu]] and [[ro|popor]];^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) Spanish and Portuguese use it also for “village”.^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) [[cy|pobl]] was borrowed from Latin.^(REW 1935)

+

+ The Latin word is old: earlier forms are [[m|la|poplus]] and, from the early 5th century BC, [[m|la|poplos]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) It continues [[itc-pro|*poplos|t=army]], the source also of [[xum|puplum|t=the body of citizens in arms]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Its further origin is unknown.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) DELI, DEI and the GDLI call it pre-Indo-European and compare the town name [[ett|pupluna]].^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|3018)^(GDLI|13, 880) Nocentini takes the Latin word from Umbrian and traces it to [[ine-pro|*kʷekʷlo-|t=wheel]] through a sense “knee”, the knee being a symbol of generation.^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is in an anonymous poem from Ravenna (1180–1210).^(TLIO) DELI dates the form ''povolo'' to 1242–1243 (Guido Faba) and ''popolo'' to a 13th-century Judaeo-Italian elegy, in the sense “the inhabitants of a state or city, under one civil order”.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the medieval communes ''popolo'' was a political term: the urban middle class of merchants and craftsmen organised in guilds, which shared power with the noble families or replaced them, and the assembly or regime of that class.^(TLIO) The ''popolo grasso'' were the richer members of the major guilds and the ''popolo minuto'' those of the minor guilds; at Florence the ''primo popolo'' and ''secondo popolo'' were the popular regimes before and after 1266.^(TLIO)^(Treccani 2011) The sense “the lower classes” is in Bono Giamboni (before 1292), and “people with common traits” in Martello (before 1727).^(DELI 1999)

+

+ In 1950 Migliorini observed that the parties of the far left had begun to call only the proletariat the “true people”, while the word politically covers citizens of every class.^(DELI 1999) Journalists now speak of the ''popolo'' of a group with shared habits, such as the ''popolo della notte''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) The pejorative ''popolaccio'' gave [[fr|populace]] (1555), which passed into English (1572).^(DEI|3018)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1180–1210 – ''Popolo'' appears in an anonymous Ravenna poem.^(TLIO)

+ * 1242–1243 – Guido Faba uses the form ''povolo''.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

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

+ * 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses ''popolano''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1555 – French ''populace'', from Italian ''popolaccio'', is recorded.^(DEI|3018)

+ * 1618 – ''Popolazione'' “the inhabitants of a place” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1950 – Migliorini comments on the political use of ''popolo''.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|people]], [[m|en|nation]]: a community sharing language, culture and traditions, usually on one territory: ''i popoli del Mediterraneo''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # The citizens of a state, as distinct from its rulers: ''il re parlò al popolo''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # The people of a common faith; the congregation of a church or parish: ''il popolo di Dio''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # A group with shared interests or habits: ''il popolo dei pendolari''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # The common people, the less well-off classes: ''un uomo del popolo''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # A crowd, a multitude of people.^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(history)'' In the medieval communes, the organised citizens of the guilds and their regime.^(TLIO)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[popolano]]

+ * [[popolare]]

+ * [[popolarità]]

+ * [[popolaresco]]

+ * [[popolarizzare]]

+ * [[popolazione]]

+ * [[popolino]]

+ * [[popoloso]]

+ * [[popolamento]]

+ * [[impopolare]]

+ * [[ripopolare]]

+ * [[spopolare]]

+ * [[spopolamento]]

+ * [[popolaccio]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pubblico]]

+ * [[pioppo]]

+ * [[la|populus]]

+ * [[fr|peuple]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Set phrases include ''a furor di popolo'' (by unanimous popular demand) and the pejorative ''popolo bue'' (the gullible masses).^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) An obsolete ''popolo'' “poplar”, from [[la|pōpulus]], is recorded from 1312 in Orvieto, in Pietro de' Crescenzi, and in Alamanni's ''popolo altero''; it is now [[pioppo]].^(TLIO)^(GRADIT 2003)^(DEI|3018)^(GDLI|13, 885)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}