morale Italian · revision 39363

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=second half of the 13th century|origins=la mōs}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /moˈra.le/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''morale''' ''m or f'' by sense (plural morali)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a learned word, [[bor|la|mōrālis|t=relating to manners or customs]], from [[m|la|mōs|t=custom, way of life]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) Cicero coined the Latin adjective to render [[grc|ἠθικός|tr=ēthikós|t=ethical]], and says so himself in his treatise on fate.^(DELI 1999)^(OLD 2012)^(Treccani 2011) The same Latin adjective gave [[fr|moral]], recorded from the 13th century, and [[es|moral]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|2505)

+

+ The feminine noun, moral philosophy or the moral of a story, implies a feminine noun left out: DELI thinks of [[dottrina|t=doctrine]], and Nocentini, for the moral of a tale, of [[massima|t=maxim]] or [[sentenza|t=saying]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) The masculine noun, a person's spirits, is explained by DELI as an ellipsis of a phrase with [[spirito]], set against the physical, and by Nocentini as a calque of the French masculine noun, short for [[fr|état moral|t=moral state]] as opposed to the physical state.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ The Latin noun has no sure cognates outside Latin, and in the Romance languages it survives only in [[fr|mœurs|t=customs]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto 1968) De Vaan reconstructs [[itc-pro|*mōs-]] and finds the meaning close enough to “measure” to derive it from the root [[ine-pro|*meh₁-|t=to measure]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Nocentini dates the first record to 1287–1288, and GRADIT and Devoto–Oli to the second half of the 13th century.^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) The earliest dated uses in DELI are Bono Giamboni's, before 1292, where a ''morale'' person is chaste and upright, and the ''Novellino'', at the end of the century, where the word means conforming to what is good and just.^(DELI 1999) Prati also cites the ''Novellino'' for the sense “concerning customs”.^(Prati 1951|677)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Dante's ''Convivio'' (1304–1308) uses the adjective for whatever concerns life in relation to good and evil, and speaks of ''la morale dottrina'', moral teaching; the noun ''moralitade'' appears in the same work.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI|10, 869) The sense “relating to conscience, to the inner life” is recorded in 1569, in the title of a book by Alessandro Piccolomini.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The feminine noun first meant the lesson to be drawn from a story, in Giovanni Sercambi before 1424; it named moral philosophy in Sforza Pallavicino before 1667, and the body of customs and rules that govern life in Marcello Malpighi before 1694.^(DELI 1999) The masculine noun for a person's state of mind is recent: Tommaseo's dictionary has it in 1869, and Giuseppe Mazzini uses it before 1872.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) Today one is ''su di morale'' or ''giù di morale'' (in good or low spirits), one ''fa la morale'' to someone (lectures them), and a story ends with ''la morale della favola''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) Milan is called the ''capitale morale'' of Italy, the city with the authority of a capital without being one.^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ The derivatives followed the learned history of the word: ''moralmente'' is in Boccaccio before 1375, ''moralizzare'' in Francesco da Buti before 1406, modelled on French ''moraliser'', ''immorale'' from 1726, ''demoralizzare'' from French ''démoraliser'' before 1802, and ''moralismo'' and ''amorale'' only at the end of the 19th and the start of the 20th century.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1287–1288 – First record of ''morale'', according to Nocentini.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses ''morale'' for a chaste, upright person.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1304–1308 – Dante's ''Convivio'' uses the adjective for what concerns good and evil.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1424 – Giovanni Sercambi uses the feminine noun for the moral of a story.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1667 – Sforza Pallavicino uses ''la morale'' for moral philosophy.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1726 – ''Immorale'' is first recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1869 – The masculine ''il morale'', state of mind, appears in Tommaseo's dictionary.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1895 – ''Amorale'' is first recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Concerning human conduct in relation to good and evil; [[m|en|ethical]]: ''Si tratta di una scelta morale difficile.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # Conforming to the principles a society holds to be right and decent; of a person, [[m|en|upright]], honest.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # Concerning the mind and spirit rather than the body or material things: ''Gli amici le hanno dato un grande sostegno morale.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ===Noun (feminine)===

+ # Moral philosophy; the doctrine, philosophical or religious, of how people should act; [[m|en|ethics]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # The set of rules and customs that govern conduct in a society or group; [[m|en|morality]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # The [[m|en|moral]] of a story or event, the lesson drawn from it: ''Qual è la morale di tutta questa storia?''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ===Noun (masculine)===

+ # State of mind, spirits; [[m|en|morale]]: ''Dopo la vittoria i giocatori hanno il morale alle stelle.''^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[moraleggiare]]

+ * [[moralismo]]

+ * [[moralista]]

+ * [[moralistico]]

+ * [[moralità]]

+ * [[moralizzare]]

+ * [[moralizzatore]]

+ * [[moralizzazione]]

+ * [[moralmente]]

+ * [[demoralizzare]]

+ * [[demoralizzazione]]

+ * [[amorale]]

+ * [[immorale]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|mos]]

+ * [[fr|moral]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The gender tells the nouns apart: ''la morale'' is ethics or the moral of a story, ''il morale'' a person's or a group's spirits.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary) A minor word ''morale'' (also ''murale''), masculine, is a long squared beam in shipbuilding, and in building a batten in the secondary framework of a timber roof, with the derivatives ''moraletto'' and ''moralone''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) It is recorded from 1609, and its origin is uncertain: Devoto–Oli suggests a link with ''muro'', and the GDLI derives it from a Venetian word for a roof batten.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(GDLI|10, 869)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}