agente

Forms

agente m (plural agenti)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin agēns (“doing, acting”), the present participle of agō (“to do, drive, act”) (compare agenda and agire).^[2][3][4][5] The LEI and DEI say that the word came into Italian through the Latin of medieval philosophy.^[6][7] Latin already used it for an official, in the phrase agentes rerum “imperial inspectors”, and for a pleader or advocate.^[7][8][9]

Italian passed the word on to French agent (1578), according to DEI and the GDLI.^[7][8] The same learned word is Catalan agent, Spanish agente and Portuguese agente.^[6][3] Agenzia was formed in Italian on the model of mercanzia beside mercante.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the poems of Guittone d'Arezzo, before 1294, with the sense “that acts, that does something”, also as a noun.^[10][11] DELI's first date for the sense “active, operating” is Dante's Convivio (1304–1308).^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “a person who acts for someone else” is in a 14th-century translation of Josephus, and the diplomatic agent of a ruler or state in Machiavelli from 1525–1527.^[2][6] The commercial agent, who does business in an area on behalf of a firm, is found from Michelangelo (before 1564), and the agent who runs a country estate from about 1624; the dialects have the word in the same senses, as Piedmontese agènt and Sicilian aggenti.^[6] In chemistry an agente is a substance that causes or changes a reaction, from Daniello Bartoli, before 1685.^[2]

The noun also means a police officer, of the lowest rank of the state police, and grammar uses it for the doer of an action, as in complemento d'agente.^[4][12][5] German borrowed Agent in 1546, from Italian or French, first for a diplomatic agent and later for a commercial traveller and a spy.^[13]

Timeline

• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses agente.^[10]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses it in the sense “active”.^[2]
• 1525–1527 – Machiavelli uses it for a diplomatic agent.^[2][6]
• 1546 – German Agent is first recorded.^[13]
• 1578 – French agent is first recorded.^[7][13]
• Before 1685 – Daniello Bartoli uses it for a chemical agent.^[2]
• Before 1742 – Agenzia is first recorded.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person or thing that acts or causes an effect.^[4][5][14]
2. (grammar) The doer of the action expressed by the verb, as opposed to the patient.^[4][11][5]
3. A police officer, especially of the lowest rank: Due agenti fermarono la macchina.^[4][12][1]
4. A person who does business or provides services on behalf of others, a representative: agente di commercio, agente immobiliare.^[4][11][12]
5. (chemistry) A substance that causes a reaction or changes its course.^[4][11]
6. (medicine) A factor that causes disease, such as a germ or radiation: agente patogeno.^[11]

Adjective

1. That acts or produces an effect: causa agente, the efficient cause.^[4][11][15]

Word family

• agenzia
• subagente

Related words

• agire
• agenda
• Latin agēns
• French agent

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 1279
7. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 83
8. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
14. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli