renaissance

The word 'renaissance' entered English from French in the 1830s, meaning 'rebirth' or 'revival.' Its‌​‌​‌​‍​‌​‌​‌​‌​‍​‍​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‍​‌​‍​‍​‌​‍​‌​‍​‌​‌​‌​‍​‌​‍​‍​‍​‌ French source, 'renaissance,' derives from the verb 'renaître' (to be reborn), which descends through Vulgar Latin *renāscere from classical Latin 'renāscī,' a compound of the prefix 're-' (again) and the deponent verb 'nāscī' (to be born). The ultimate source is the PIE root *ǵenh₁-, meaning 'to beget' or 'to give birth' — one of the most productive roots in the Indo-European family.

The PIE root *ǵenh₁- connects 'renaissance' to a vast network of English words. Through Latin 'nāscī' (to be born), it produced 'nascent' (being born, emerging), 'natal' (relating to birth), 'nation' (a people born together, a birth-group), 'nature' (the inborn quality of something, from 'nātūra'), 'native' (one born in a place), 'innate' (inborn), and 'cognate' (born together, related by origin). Through the Latin form 'genus' (birth, kind), the same root produced 'genre,' 'gene,' 'genesis,' 'genius,' 'gender,' 'generate,' and 'gentle.' Through the Greek form 'genesis' (origin, creation), it produced the biblical name for the book of beginnings. So 'renaissance' and 'genre' — both in this batch of words — share the same PIE ancestor, connected by the concept of birth.

The history of the word as a historical label is itself fascinating. The people who lived during the period we now call the Renaissance — Petrarch, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael — did not call their era by that name. They understood themselves as participating in a cultural renewal, a recovery of classical learning after a long period of decline. The Italian artist and biographer Giorgio Vasari, writing in 1550, used the word 'rinascita' (rebirth) to describe the revival of good art after the dark centuries of the medieval period, but this was a descriptive term, not a period label.

The word 'Renaissance' as the name for a distinct historical epoch was effectively coined by the French historian Jules Michelet, who used it as the title of a volume of his 'Histoire de France' in 1855. The Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt cemented the term with his enormously influential 'Die Kultur der Renaissance in Italien' (The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy) in 1860. Burckhardt presented the Renaissance as a decisive break with the Middle Ages — the moment when individualism, secularism, and the modern spirit emerged in Italy. His interpretation has been debated and qualified by every subsequent generation of historians, but the word he popularized has proven indelible.

In English, 'renaissance' (lowercase) also serves as a common noun meaning any revival or renewed interest. One speaks of a jazz renaissance, a downtown renaissance, a personal renaissance. This figurative use preserves the etymological meaning — rebirth — while detaching it from the specific historical period. The phrase 'Renaissance man' (or 'Renaissance woman'), meaning a person of wide-ranging knowledge and accomplishments, derives from the ideal of 'l'uomo universale' that characterized thinkers like Leonardo da Vinci, who was simultaneously a painter, sculptor, engineer, anatomist, and musician.

The Italian equivalent, 'Rinascimento,' comes from the same Latin root through Italian phonological development. The Spanish 'Renacimiento' and Portuguese 'Renascimento' are parallel formations. All preserve the transparent structure: re- (again) + nascere/nacer/nascer (to be born) + the nominalizing suffix. The word is, across all these languages, a declaration that something dead has come back to life — that culture, after a period of dormancy, has been born again.

The pronunciation of 'renaissance' in English has long varied. The traditional British pronunciation approximates French: /ɹɪˈneɪsəns/. The American pronunciation /ˌɹɛnəˈsɑːns/ was once criticized by purists but is now standard in North American English. Both reflect the persistent influence of French phonology on English loanwords, with each variety of English making different compromises between French and native sound patterns.