amante

Forms

amante m or f by sense (plural amanti)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin amāns (“loving; a lover”), the present participle of amō (“to love”), and in Italian it serves as the present participle of amare.^[2][3][1][4] The LEI counts both the adjective and the noun among the inherited words, and the sense “one who is loved” and the superlative amantissimo as 14th-century Latinisms.^[2]

The same Latin participle survives in Middle French amant (now French aimant), and as a noun in French amant (“lover”), Old Occitan amans, Catalan amant, Spanish amante and Portuguese amante.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in DELI, the TLIO and the LEI, is in the poets of the Sicilian School: Giacomo da Lentini, writing between about 1230 and 1250, and Giacomino Pugliese, as a noun “one who loves, lover”.^[5][3][2] Venetian amanti is found in the Panfilo of about 1250.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word covered any love, carnal or spiritual.^[3] Petrarch's O me beato sopra gli altri amanti uses it for the lover in the old poetic sense, which is now literary.^[6][7] Tasso's line Ahi tanto amò la non amante amata plays on the participle.^[8][6] The adjective “fond of, inclined to” something is recorded from the mid-14th century and again from Baretti in 1765.^[2] Tommaseo also records an old use of amante for the lodestone (calamita), after the attraction that the Greeks called “love”.^[8]

Today the main sense is a person in a secret or extramarital relationship, the partner in an affair, while the adjective with di means “fond of”.^[9][4][10]

Timeline

• c. 1230–1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses amante as a noun.^[3][5]
• c. 1250 – Venetian amanti appears in the Panfilo.^[2]
• 1294 – The superlative amantissimo is recorded in Guittone d'Arezzo.^[2]
• Mid-14th century – The adjective “fond of” is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Fond of, keen on something, with di: È molto amante della montagna.^[9][4][10]

Noun

1. A lover, a person in a secret or extramarital love affair: Aveva un amante da anni.^{[9][4][10][1]}
2. A person who is passionate about something; a lover of music, art, food: un amante della lirica.^[9][4][10]
3. (literary) One who is in love, a sweetheart.^[9][4][7]

Word family

• amantemente

Related words

• amare
• amore
• Latin amāns

Usage notes

A separate nautical amante (also mante) is a tackle of ropes and blocks for raising yards, sails and loads; it comes from Ancient Greek ἱμάς (himás, “leather strap”) and is recorded from 1614, with mante from the 13th century.^[11][9][12] French had it as aman in 1382–1384.^[12] The knot called gassa d'amante (bowline) belongs to this word.^[9][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 2, 464
3. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
7. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 150
12. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it