egro

Italian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin aegrum (“sick, ill”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛ.ɡro/
• Rhymes: -ɛɡro
• Hyphenation: è‧gro

Adjective

egro (feminine egra, masculine plural egri, feminine plural egre)

1. (poetic) sick, ill

   Synonyms: ammalato, (literary, obsolete) egrotante, (literary) infermo, malato

   Antonym: sano

   • 1374, Francesco Petrarca, “Sonetto CCLXXXIV. [Sonnet 284]”, in Il Canzoniere‎, Florence: Andrea Bettini, published 1858, page 233, lines 5–7:

     Qual à già i nervi e i polsi e i pensier’egri ¶ Cui domestica febbre assalir deve, ¶ Tal mi sentia

     Like one who already has ill body and mind, soon to be attacked by common fever: thus I was feeling

   • 1581, Torquato Tasso, Gerusalemme liberata [Jerusalem Delivered]‎, Erasmo Viotti, Proemio, page 2:

     Così à l’egro fanciul porghiamo aſperſi ¶ Di ſoaue licor gli orli del vaſo

     Thus to the ill boy we hand the rim of the cup, covered in sweet liquid

2. (poetic, figurative) distressed, troubled

   Synonyms: addolorato, afflitto

   Antonym: sereno

   • 1374, Francesco Petrarca, “Trionfo della Divinità [Triumph of Divinity]”, in I trionfi [Triumphs], collected in https://it.wikisource.org/wiki/Indice:Le_rime_di_M._Francesco_Petrarca_I.djvu Le rime di M. Francesco Petrarca, Venice: Giuseppe Bortoli, published 1739, page 321, lines 52–54:

     O veramente sordi, ignudi e frali, ¶ poveri d’argomenti e di consiglio, ¶ egri del tutto e miseri mortali!

     Oh, truly deaf, naked and frail, without arguments or advice, completely troubled and miserable mortals!

3. (poetic, by extension) of or pertaining to illness or sickness
   • 1803, Ugo Foscolo, “All'amica risanata [To the Healed Friend]”, in Odi [Odes]‎, collected in Odi e sonetti di Ugo Foscolo, published 1890, page 30:

     Sorgon così tue dive ¶ Membra dall’egro talamo ¶ E in te beltà rivive

     Thus your divine body rises from your bed of illness, and beauty lives again in you

Derived terms

• egramente

Related terms

• egritudine
• egrotante

Noun

egro m (plural egri, feminine egra)

1. a sick or ill person
   • 1581, Torquato Tasso, Gerusalemme liberata [Jerusalem Delivered]‎, Erasmo Viotti, Canto 18, page 409:

     Giungi aſpettato à dar ſalute à l’egra: ¶ D'amoroſo penſiero arſa, e ferita

     You come, expected, giving health to the sick one, burned and hurt by a thought of love

Further reading

• egro in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• egro in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication

Anagrams

• -gero, ergo, ergo-, orge