giallo Italian · revision 39370

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=last quarter of the 12th century, Proverbia que dicuntur (Venetian)|origins=la galbus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈd͡ʒal.lo/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''giallo''' (feminine ''gialla'', masculine plural ''gialli'', feminine plural ''gialle'', superlative ''giallissimo''); as a noun ''giallo'' ''m'' (plural ''gialli'').^(Wiktionary)

+ Old forms include [[roa-oit|gialdo]], [[roa-oit|zallo]], [[roa-oit|zalo]] and [[roa-oit|çallo]], mostly from northern Italy.^(TLIO) The northern ''gialdo'' is still alive in the dialects of the north.^(Prati 1951|500)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fro|jalne]], the older form of [[fr|jaune]], from [[la|galbinus|t=pale green, greenish yellow]], a derivative of [[m|la|galbus|t=pale green, yellow]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) Tuscan adapted the French word;^(DEI|1803)^(Körting 1907) Körting already noted that the Italian form cannot come from the Latin word directly, only through French.^(DEI|1803)^(Körting 1907) The Latin adjective survives as an inherited word only in northern France and in [[ro|galben]].^(DELI 1999)^(REW 1935) The French word spread widely: it reached the Italian dialects, and was borrowed as [[es|jalde]] and [[pt|jalne]].^(DEI|1803)^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)

+

+ The Latin words are recorded only from the imperial period, and DELI takes their late appearance as a sign of foreign origin.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI|6) Nocentini connects them with the Indo-European source of [[de|gelb]] and [[en|yellow]], but since the sound changes are not the regular Latin ones he suspects a loan from Celtic or Germanic.^(Nocentini 2010) Wiktionary's Latin entry calls the origin unknown and keeps the Germanic words apart, relating them to [[la|helvus]] instead.^(Wiktionary) Older scholars, Diez and Zaccaria, derived the Italian word from [[goh|gelo|t=yellow]];^(Körting 1907)^(Zaccaria 1901) Körting gives Diez's view and rejects a direct link.^(Körting 1907)^(Zaccaria 1901)

+

+ Northern texts from the 15th century have the variant [[roa-oit|gialdo]], already as [[la-med|ialdus]] in Latin documents, and Guido Guinizelli used the unadapted Gallicism [[roa-oit|giano]].^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian ''Proverbia que dicuntur'', from the last quarter of the 12th century.^(TLIO) DELI and GRADIT date the word to before 1276, in Guido Guinizelli, who writes: ''Verde river' a lei rassembro e l'aire, / tutti color di fior, giallo e vermiglio'' (“I liken her to a green riverbank and to the air, to all colours of flowers, yellow and vermilion”).^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old Italian the colour was compared to sulphur and gold, and a ''denaro giallo'' was a gold coin as opposed to white silver.^(TLIO) A ''libro giallo'' was an account book named after its cover, the sallow skin of jaundice and hunger was ''giallo'', and so were blond hair and the yolk of an egg, ''il giallo dell'uovo''.^(TLIO) Boccaccio uses it for a pale, waxy face (1362–64).^(DELI 1999)

+

+ Several modern phrases follow foreign models: ''stampa gialla'' copies the American ''yellow press'', named after the comic strip ''The Yellow Kid'' (1894); ''pericolo giallo'' translates the German ''gelbe Gefahr'' of about 1900; and ''sindacato giallo'', a union opposed to the socialist “red” ones, follows the French ''syndicat jaune'' of 1899–1900.^(DELI 1999) Only Italian calls a detective story a ''giallo'', after the yellow covers of the crime series that Mondadori began publishing in 1929; this use is recorded from 1935.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Wiktionary) The press later extended it to any case wrapped in mystery.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) German borrowed ''Giallo'' for the colour (1865) and for a yellow marble.^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Last quarter of the 12th century – The Venetian ''Proverbia que dicuntur'' has the first record.^(TLIO)

+ * Before 1276 – Guido Guinizelli uses ''giallo''.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * Before 1321 – Dante uses the noun for the yellow part of something.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1362–1364 – Boccaccio uses it for “pale, waxy”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1406 – ''Giallume'' and ''gialliccio'' appear in Francesco da Buti.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1929 – Mondadori starts its yellow-covered series of crime novels.^(DELI 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ * 1935 – ''Giallo'' is recorded for a detective story.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1958 – ''Giallorosa'', a crime story with a love plot and a happy ending, is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|yellow]]: of the colour between orange and green, like a lemon or gold: ''Ha dipinto la porta di giallo e le finestre di blu.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # Of the face: [[m|en|pale]], sallow from illness or strong emotion: ''Dopo la traversata era giallo in viso.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # Of a novel, play or film: about a crime and its detection: ''Stasera in televisione danno un film giallo.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(dated, often offensive)'' East Asian, in phrases such as ''razza gialla'' and ''pericolo giallo''.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # The colour yellow: ''Il giallo ti dona più del rosso.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # The [[m|en|amber]] light of a traffic signal.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The yellow part of something, as in ''il giallo dell'uovo'' “the egg yolk”.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # A [[m|en|detective story]], crime novel or film; also the genre: ''D'estate leggo almeno un giallo alla settimana.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # By extension, a puzzling criminal case or [[m|en|mystery]]: ''La scomparsa dei documenti resta un giallo.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[giallastro]]

+ * [[gialliccio]]

+ * [[giallognolo]]

+ * [[giallume]]

+ * [[giallorosa]]

+ * [[giallorosso]]

+ * [[ingiallire]]

+ * [[giallista]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[gialleggiare]]

+ * [[gialligno]]

+ * [[fr|jaune]]

+ * [[la|galbinus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Fixed phrases include ''farina gialla'' “maize flour”, ''febbre gialla'' “yellow fever”, ''pagine gialle'' “yellow pages”, ''cartellino giallo'' “yellow card” and ''Fiamme Gialle'', the Guardia di Finanza.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}