orologio Italian · revision 38918

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1313–1314, Zucchero Bencivenni's Sfera|origins=grc ὡρολόγιον}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /o.roˈlɔ.d͡ʒo/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''orologio''' ''m'' (plural orologi)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old forms include [[roa-oit|orilogio]], [[roa-oit|arlogio]], [[roa-oit|relogio]], [[roa-oit|reloio]] and [[scn|riloiu]].^(TLIO) Older written variants are ''orilògio'', ''orlòggio'' and ''orlòglio''.^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a learned word, [[bor|la|hōrologium|t=sundial, water clock]], [[der|grc|ὡρολόγιον|tr=hōrológion]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The Greek word is a compound of [[m|grc|ὥρα|tr=hṓra|t=hour; season]] and a derivative of [[m|grc|λέγω|tr=légō]] in the sense “to count”, so that it meant “what counts or tells the hour”; in Greek and Latin it named sand, water and sun clocks.^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(OLD 2012) Many dialect forms go back instead to a spoken variant [[la-vul|*horilogium]].^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The same Latin word is [[fr|horloge]] (12th century), [[pro|relotge]] and [[ca|rellotge]], and Spanish took [[m|es|reloj]] from Catalan.^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)^(DEI|2681) In Italian it competed with the Tuscan [[oriolo]], probably from a diminutive [[la|horāriolum]] of [[m|la|hōrārium|t=clock]]; the two forms still alternated in the 16th century, Florentine use favouring the short form and Roman use the long one, until the Tuscan form fell back as too vernacular.^(DELI 1999)^(Prati 1951|715) Some derivatives are later loans from French: [[orologiere]] is [[fr|horloger]] and [[orologeria]] is [[fr|horlogerie]].^(DELI 1999)^(Prati 1951|715)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is in the Florentine ''Sfera'' of Zucchero Bencivenni (1313–1314), where the word refers to the measuring of time and to the instrument that marks the hours.^(TLIO) DELI dates it before 1321, from Dante, who in ''Paradiso'' X compares the blessed spirits to a clock that calls the Church to morning prayer (“come orologio che ne chiami / nell'ora che la sposa di Dio surge / a mattinar lo sposo”).^(DELI 1999)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old Italian the word named the mechanical clock that marked the hours with a bell, an astronomical instrument showing the places of the Sun and Moon in the zodiac, and also the sundial.^(TLIO) Public mechanical clocks were spreading in the same years: in 1344 a clock designed by Giacomo Dondi was placed on the town hall of Padua, and his son Giovanni Dondi “dell'Orologio” built another for Pavia.^(Prati 1951|715)

+

+ Trades and shops followed the object: ''orologeria'', the art of clockmaking, is recorded in 1770–1771 and later also names the shop, and ''orologiaio'' “clockmaker, watchmaker” in 1824, beside the older ''oriolaio''.^(DELI 1999) In the 17th century Francesco Redi wrote of a respected man in Florence who was “very good at his trade of making clocks”.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) Figuratively a machine or a team that works perfectly, or a very punctual person, ''è un orologio''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) The phrase ''orologio biologico'', the body's internal clock, was in Italian newspapers by 1984.^(GDLI|Supplemento 2009)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1313–1314 – Zucchero Bencivenni's ''Sfera'' has the first record.^(TLIO)

+ * Before 1321 – Dante uses ''orologio'' in the ''Paradiso''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1344 – A clock by Giacomo Dondi is placed on the town hall of Padua.^(Prati 1951|715)

+ * 1770–1771 – ''Orologeria'' “clockmaking” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1824 – ''Orologiaio'' “clockmaker” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1984 – ''Orologio biologico'' “biological clock” appears in ''La Repubblica''.^(GDLI|Supplemento 2009)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|clock]] or [[m|en|watch]]: an instrument that measures time in hours and their fractions: ''Il mio orologio va avanti di cinque minuti.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Something that works perfectly; also a very [[m|en|punctual]] person: ''Quella squadra è un orologio.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # A card game in which the banker lays out the cards like the hours on a [[m|en|dial]].^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[orologeria]]

+ * [[orologiaio]]

+ * [[orologiero]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[oriolo]]

+ * [[ora]]

+ * [[fr|horloge]]

+ * [[la|hōrologium]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The phrase ''come un orologio'' means “perfectly, like clockwork”.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011) DEI records a separate learned ''orologio'' (1818), the breviary of the Greek rite, from Greek ''hōrológion'',^(DEI|2681) and in some northern regions ''orologio'' is a name of the cherry laurel, altered from ''lauro regio''.^(GDLI|12)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}