English
morbidezza
Morbidezza comes from Italian morbidezza ‘softness, smoothness, tenderness, mellowness’, from Latin morbidum ‘sick’, and ultimately from morbus ‘disease, illness’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmorbus‘disease, illness’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmorbidum‘sick’
- Italianc. 1300–presentmorbido‘soft, tender, mellow’
- Italian, derivedc. 1300–presentmorbidezza‘softness, smoothness, tenderness, mellowness’
- Englishearliest quotation 1603same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmorbus‘disease, illness’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmorbidum‘sick’
- Italianc. 1300–presentmorbido‘soft, tender, mellow’
- Italian, derivedc. 1300–presentmorbidezza‘softness, smoothness, tenderness, mellowness’
- Englishearliest quotation 1603same form
Earliest quotation: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes […]: “Yea, when we forge its image in hir excellencie,…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *mer- ‘to die’
remember, march, murder, marine, nightmare, mere, maritime, marsh, mortality, mare, mortal, mara, mortar, muller, moor, mortuary, mort, ambrosia, morn, marinate, marinara, maar, moribund, cormorant, 61 more
Today it means
noun Softness, smoothness; also in a negative sense, weakness, effeminacy.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin morbus / morbidezza