Because we use the term “airplane“To refer to the means of transport while we resort to”airport“To refer to the place from which it takes off and lands? The answer lies in the etymologies: The Italian language, always rich and articulated, often has curiosities that stimulate our attention.
The origin of “plane”
The term “plane” derives from Latin Aeriuswhat does it mean “on the air“. In Italian it was adopted both as an adjective, which refers to what is relevant to the air, and as a noun and, for synecdoche (The rhetorical figure for which one word is replaced with another who has with this a relationship of inclusion or quantity: a part is used to indicate everything, or vice versa) has become synonymous with “airplane”. Today, the semantic evolution of the words led to the use we make of “plane” to indicate the flying appliance.
The formation of “airport”
“Airport“It has a very different origin: it is one compoundformed by the union of the prefix “aero-“And of the noun”port“. The prefix”aero-“derives from the Greek aērthrough Latin, and means “air”. “Port” comes directly from Latin portusand indicates a place of landing. Therefore, “airport” literally means “port of air“, That is, the place intended for the arrival and departure of the aircraft. The” airport “form is one popular variant influenced by the existence of the term “plane”, this form is however considered incorrect. As the Accademia della Crusca explains, the “airplane” and “airport” variants are due to the interference of “plane”, which “is not the abbreviation of airplane, but the noun form of the adjective Aèreo (Latin Aèreus)”.
Luca Serianni, One of the major Italian linguists, explains verbatim:
The correct shapes are only airport and airplane. Airplano is a word of French origin formed with the aero-air prefix that is located in Aeronautica, Aerosol, aerostat. A second Aero prefix was then obtained from Aeroplane, with reference to air traffic (hence the airport, but also aircraft, aerosiluro etc.). The airplane and airport variants are due to plane interference, which “is not as someone believes, the abbreviation of airplane, but the noun form of the adjective Aèreo (Latin Aèreus), which is the abbreviation of the phrase ‘appliance, or vehicle, aèreo'” (Gabrielli). As for airport and areoplane, it is a popular alteration that depends on the exceptionality of words that present the AE sequence.
