guerra

See also: Guerra and guèrra

Asturian

Etymology

From , borrowed from Frankish *werru (“confusion; quarrel”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡera/, [ˈɡe.ra]
• Rhymes: -era
• Hyphenation: gue‧rra

Noun

guerra f (plural guerres)

1. war

Derived terms

• guerra civil

Related terms

• guerreru
• guerriar

Catalan

Etymology

From Old Catalan guerra~gerra, from Medieval Latin guerra, borrowed from Frankish *werru (“confusion; quarrel”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈɡɛ.rə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈɡɛ.ra]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛra

Noun

guerra f (plural guerres)

1. war

   Antonym: pau

Derived terms

• guerra civil
• guerra fred
• guerrejar
• guerrer
• guerrera

 

Related terms

• guerrilla

Descendants

• → Sardinian: gherra

References

• “guerra” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “guerra”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “guerra” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “guerra” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Galician

Etymology

Locally attested since 1019, in Latin charters. Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese guerra, from , borrowed from Frankish *werru (“confusion; quarrel”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɡɛrɐ]

Noun

guerra f (plural guerras)

1. war

   Antonym: paz

2. noisy confusion

Derived terms

• guerrear
• Guerreiro
• guerreiro

References

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “guerra”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “guerra”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “guerra”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “guerra”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “guerra”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Interlingua

Noun

guerra

1. war

See also

• bello

Italian

Etymology

From early Medieval Latin guerra, from Frankish *werru (“confusion; quarrel”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡwɛr.ra/

• Audio (la guerra):

  (file)

• Audio (guerra):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛrra
• Hyphenation: guèr‧ra

Noun

guerra f (plural guerre, diminutive guerricciòla or (literary) guerricciuòla)

1. (also figurative) war, warfare

   Synonyms: conflitto, lotta, ostilità, scontro

   Antonym: pace

   • 13^th century, Bono Giamboni, “Capitolo 28. Del confortamento dell'arte della cavalleria, e della virtude de' Romani”, in Dell'arte della guerra [On the Art of War]‎^[1], translation of Epitoma Rei Militaris by Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, published 1815, page 37:

     E neuno si maravigli, nell'etade di sopra, le dette cose essere avvenute. Conciossiacosachè di po' la primaia guerra di Cartagine, perchè istettero i Romani venticinque anni che le battaglie per la lunga pace non usaro, in tal modo per quello riposo i Romani, che in ogni parte erano stati vincitori, indeboliro

     And no one should be surprised that the aforementioned things happened back then, since after the first Carthaginian war the Romans, having spent twenty-five years without fighting due to the long peace, happened to become weaker because of that resting, even though they had been winning everywhere

   • 1300s–1310s, Dante Alighieri, “Canto II”, in Inferno [Hell]‎^[2], lines 3–6; republished as Giorgio Petrocchi, editor, La Commedia secondo l'antica vulgata [The Commedia according to the ancient vulgate]‎^[3], 2^nd revised edition, Florence: publ. Le Lettere, 1994:

     […] io sol uno
     m'apparecchiava a sostener la guerra
     sì del cammino e sì della pietate,
     che ritrarrà la mente che non erra.

     I, alone, was getting ready to endure the suffering of both the path and the spirit, which the unerring memory will recount

   • c. 1477, Lorenzo de' Medici, Rime, collected in Opere, published 1913:

     Ogni alma, che lei vede, si asserena;
     ed io per certo infelice pur sono,
     che agli altri pace dá, a me sol guerra.

     Every soul that gazes upon her becomes serene, and yet I am certainly unhappy, for she gives peace to others, and conflict to me only.

   • 1581, Torquato Tasso, Gerusalemme liberata [Jerusalem Delivered]‎^[4], Erasmo Viotti, Canto primo, page 4:

     Disse al suo Nuntio Dio: Goffredo trova:
     E'n mio nome dì lui: perche si cessa?
     Perche la guerra homai non si rinova
     A liberar Gerusalemme oppressa?

     God said to His messenger: "Find Goffredo, and, in my name, ask him: 'Why do you stop? Why does the war to free the oppressed Jerusalem not continue?'"

   • 1723, Anton Maria Salvini, transl., Iliade [Iliad]‎^[5], Milan: Giovanni Gaetano Tartini, Santi Franchi, translation of Ἰλιάς (Iliás) by Homer, Book 1, page 8:

     Il più dell'aspra impetuosa guerra
     Le mani mie governan […]

     My hands command most of the harsh, impetuous war

   • 1825, Vincenzo Monti, transl., Iliade [Iliad], Milan: Giovanni Resnati e Gius. Bernardoni di Gio, translation of Ἰλιάς (Iliás) by Homer, published 1840, Book 1, page 13, lines 77–81:

     Atride, or sì, cred' io, volta daremo
     Nuovamente errabondi al patrio lido,
     Se pur morte fuggir ne fia concesso;
     Chè guerra e peste ad un medesmo tempo
     Ne struggono. […]

     Now, Atreid, I do believe we will head back, once again wanderers, to the native shores. That is, if we will be allowed to escape death, since war and pestilence torment us at the same time.

   • 1904, Luigi Pirandello, “5. Maturazione”, in Il fu Mattia Pascal [The Late Mattia Pascal]‎^[6], published 1919, page 42:

     Romilda, gelosa di quel figlio che sarebbe nato a Oliva, tra gli agi e in letizia; mentre il suo, nell’angustia, nell’incertezza del domani, e fra tutta quella guerra.

     Romilda, jealous of the son Oliva was going to birth in comforts and happiness, while hers in poverty, uncertainty for tomorrow, and all that war.

Derived terms

• dichiarazione di guerra
• guerra civile
• guerra fredda
• guerra mondiale
• guerraiolo
• guerreggiare
• guerresco
• tempo di guerra

 

Related terms

• guerrafondaio
• guerreggiante
• guerreggiatore
• guerrescamente
• guerriero
• guerriglia
• guerrigliero

 

Descendants

• → Slavomolisano: gvera

Further reading

• guerra on the Italian Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^it
• guerra in Collins Italian-English Dictionary
• guerra in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• rugare, urgerà

Latin

Alternative forms

• werra, wera

Etymology

Borrowed from Frankish *werru (“riot, quarrel”). First attested in 858 CE in the form ⟨werra⟩.

Pronunciation

• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈɡwer.ra/, [ˈɡwɛrːä]

Noun

guerra f (genitive guerrae); first declension (Early Medieval Latin)

1. war

   Synonym: bellum (Classical, traditional)

   • 13th century, Roger of Wendover, Flores Historiarum, a. 1216:

     Ad hoc nuntii responderunt, quod rex Angliae ante crucem sumptam werram moverat domino Lodowico et damna multa fecerat, castra sua ceperat et adhuc milites suos et servientes incarceratos retinet, et hucusque in werra est contra dominum Lodowicum, nec pacem vel treugam cum eo habere voluit, super hoc etiam saepe requisitus.

     To this the nuncios replied that the king of England had made war on lord Louis before taking the cross, and had done much harm, had seized his castles and still retained his subject prisoners and soldiers, and was yet at war against lord Louis, and did not desire to make either peace or truce with him, even as he was frequently requested to do so.

   • 1294, “Convenzione tra il Comune di Sassari, e il Comune di Genova”, in Codex diplomaticus Sardiniae, volume 1, page 519:

     […] comune et homines de Sassari et districtu, quem nunc habet et in posterum acquisiverit, faciet et facient pacem, guerram et treugam cum omnibus personis, universitatibus, locis, regibus, principibus, atque dominis, ubicumque sint et quocumque nomine censeantur, cum quibus comune Ianue pacem, guerram vel treugam habet […]

     […] the commune and people of Sassari and of the territory that it has now and will have acquired in future, make peace, war and truce with all persons, corporations, places, kings, princes, and lords, wherever they may be and by whatever name they are called, with which the commune of Genoa has made peace, war or truce […]

2. strife, insurrection

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	guerra	guerrae
genitive	guerrae	guerrārum
dative	guerrae	guerrīs
accusative	guerram	guerrās
ablative	guerrā	guerrīs
vocative	guerra	guerrae

Derived terms

• guerrīnus
• guerra recrēdūta

Descendants

• Italo-Romance:
  • Corsican: guèrra
  • Italian: guerra
  • Neapolitan: uerra
  • Sicilian: guerra, verra, uerra
    • → Maltese: gwerra
• North Italian:
  • Friulian: vuere
  • Istriot: guiera
  • Ladin: viera
  • Piedmontese: guèra
  • Romansch: uiara, veara
  • Venetan: guera
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: guerra
  • Occitan: guèrra
  • Old French: guerre, guere, gere, gerre, were, wiere, werre
    • Bourguignon: guârre, gârre, gârre
    • Middle French: guerre (see there for further descendants)
    • Norman: gùerre, dgèrre (Jersey), djère, guère (Guernsey), gyer (Sark)
    • Picard: guère, dgère (Nord and Pas-de-Calais), djérre (Somme and Oise)
    • Walloon: guere, guêre, guére, guère
    • → Old English: werre, wyrre
      • Middle English: werre, ware, wær, weer, weorre, wer, were, werr, weyr, worre
        • English: war
        • Scots: wer, weir, war
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Old Leonese: [Term?]
    • Asturian: guerra
    • Leonese: gerra
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: guerra
    • Fala: guerra
    • Galician: guerra
    • Portuguese: guerra
  • Old Spanish: guerra
    • Ladino: gerra
    • Spanish: guerra
    • → Basque: gerra
    • → Moroccan Arabic: قِرَّة (gīrra)
• Vulgar Latin: *werridiāre (see there for further descendants)

References

• guerra in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• R. E. Latham, D. R. Howlett, & R. K. Ashdowne, editors (1975–2013), “werra”, in Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources‎^[7], London: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, →ISBN, →OCLC

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

Inherited from , borrowed from Frankish *werru (“confusion; quarrel”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɛ.ra/

Noun

guerra f (plural guerras)

1. war

   Antonym: paz

Descendants

• Fala: guerra
• Galician: guerra
• Portuguese: guerra

Portuguese

Guerra

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese guerra, from Medieval Latin guerra, borrowed from Frankish *werru (“confusion; quarrel”).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɛ.ʁɐ/ [ˈɡɛ.hɐ]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɛ.ʁɐ/ [ˈɡɛ.hɐ]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɛ.ʁɐ/ [ˈɡɛ.χɐ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɛ.ʁa/ [ˈɡɛ.ha]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɛ.ʁɐ/

• Hyphenation: guer‧ra

• Audio (Brazil):

  (file)

Noun

guerra f (plural guerras)

2. war (organised, large-scale armed conflict)

   Antonym: paz

4. (uncountable) war; warfare (the waging of war)
6. (figurative) war (any large-scale conflict)

   Synonym: conflito

Derived terms

• ciberguerra
• guerrear
• guerreiro
• guerrinha
• guerrona

 

Related terms

• guerrilha

Descendants

• → Papiamentu: gera

See also

• batalha, bélico, combate, beligerência

Romansch

Alternative forms

• uiara (Sursilvan)
• veara, gueara (Sutsilvan)
• ghera (Surmiran)

Etymology

From , borrowed from Frankish *werru (“confusion; quarrel”).

Noun

guerra f (plural guerras)

1. war

Sicilian

Alternative forms

• verra, uerra

Etymology

From , borrowed from Frankish *werru (“confusion; quarrel”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɡwɛʐʐa]
• Hyphenation: guèr‧ra

Noun

guerra f (plural guerri)

1. war

Antonyms

• paci

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish guerra, from , borrowed from Frankish *werru (“confusion; quarrel”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡera/ [ˈɡe.ra]

• Audio:

  noicon

  (file)

• Rhymes: -era
• Syllabification: gue‧rra

Noun

guerra f (plural guerras)

1. war, warfare

   La guerra entre los Estados Unidos e Irak

   The war between the United States and Iraq

   Synonyms: conflicto bélico, choque, combate, conflagración, conflicto, contienda, cruzada, enfrentamiento, guerrilla, hostilidades, lid, lucha, ofensiva, pelea, refriega

   Antonyms: paz, concordia

Hyponyms

• guerra a muerte
• guerra biológica
• guerra de comida (“food fight”)
• guerra de desgaste
• guerra de ediciones
• guerra de nervios
• guerra de posiciones
• guerra de precios
• guerra de trincheras
• guerra fría
• guerra mundial
• guerra nuclear
• guerra preventiva
• guerra psicológica
• guerra púnica
• guerra santa
• guerra sin cuartel
• guerra subsidiaria
• guerra sucia

 

Derived terms

• acción de guerra
• aguerrido
• auditor de guerra
• bando de guerra
• buque de guerra
• capitán a guerra
• cohete de guerra
• comisario de guerra
• consejo de guerra
• contrabando de guerra
• contribución de guerra
• crimen de guerra
• criminal de guerra
• declaración de guerra
• declarar la guerra
• en buena guerra
• en la guerra y en el amor todo vale
• en pie de guerra
• en tiempos de guerra cualquier agujero es trinchera
• entreguerras
• estado de guerra
• fragata de guerra
• guerra civil
• guerra cultural
• guerra de bolas
• guerra de cifras
• guerra de palos
• guerra digital
• guerrear
• guerrero
• guerrilla
• hombre de guerra
• honores de la guerra
• madrina de guerra
• marina de guerra
• mujer de guerra
• municiones de guerra
• nave de guerra, barco de guerra (“warship”)
• navío de guerra
• neurosis de guerra
• nombre de guerra
• pólvora de guerra
• posguerra
• prisionero de guerra
• señor de la guerra
• tambores de guerra
• zona de guerra

 

Descendants

• → Tagalog: gera, giyera

Further reading

• “guerra”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28