entry
italic
/ɪˈtælɪk/Slanted typeface style; related to Italy.
From Greek via Latin Italy (The country name and its cultural association).
Word Ancestry
The shape of italic owes its life to a place name, not to some abstract design theory. Aldo Manutius, the Venetian printer, was experimenting around 1500 with compact books and elegant slanted letters, and the style got labeled as the “Italian” way of writing. That’s why the word literally means “pertaining to Italy,” which is a little deliciously odd when you think about it: a font style ends up wearing a geographic tag like a tailor’s label. The country name itself is a puzzle—Latin Italia, Greek Italia, maybe tied to a word for calves, maybe to a tribal name, maybe to an older local word nobody can pin down with certainty. So every time a syllabus or a book title goes slanty, it’s quietly flashing a Renaissance passport stamp.
The Story
The shape of italic owes its life to a place name, not to some abstract design theory. Aldo Manutius, the Venetian printer, was experimenting around 1500 with compact books and elegant slanted letters, and the style got labeled as the “Italian” way of writing. That’s why the word literally means “pertaining to Italy,” which is a little deliciously odd when you think about it: a font style ends up wearing a geographic tag like a tailor’s label. The country name itself is a puzzle—Latin Italia, Greek Italia, maybe tied to a word for calves, maybe to a tribal name, maybe to an older local word nobody can pin down with certainty. So every time a syllabus or a book title goes slanty, it’s quietly flashing a Renaissance passport stamp.
Kin & Kindred
From 'Italy'·The country name and its cultural association
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From '-ic'·Adjectival suffix meaning 'pertaining to'
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Etymonline
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Wiktionary