annoverare

Forms

annoverare (first-person singular present annòvero, first-person singular past historic annoverài, past participle annoveràto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin adnumerō (“to count out; to count among”), also spelled annumerō, formed with the prefix ad- on numerō (“to count”), from numerus (“number”).^[2][3][4][5] DELI calls the prefix intensive.^[2] The ⟨m⟩ became ⟨v⟩ by dissimilation from the nasals around it, as in noverare from numerō.^[6][2] Devoto instead explains the verb as formed in Italian on novero with the prefix a(d)-.^[7]

The Latin verb lives on in Old French anombrer, and Old Italian also had annomerare and anombrare.^[8] The learned form is annumerare, recorded from about 1282, and Catalan anumerar and Spanish anumerar are learned too.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Florentine account book of 1211, in the sense “to count”.^[2][9] Old Italian used it for counting things one by one, for assessing goods, for listing the items of a series and for recalling them in order.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to include in the number, count among” is first recorded in Boccaccio, before 1375.^[2] Dante uses the old sense: Pensa, se tu annoverar le credi (“think, if you mean to count them”), and Petrarch writes Ad una ad una annoverar le stelle (“to count the stars one by one”).^[10][11] Boccaccio also used it for counting out money.^[10]

Tommaseo found noverare less common and numerare more general.^[11] Today the counting sense is literary, and the verb mostly means to include someone or something in a group, or to have a number of members.^{[12][13][14][1]}

Timeline

• 1211 – A Florentine account book has the first record, “to count”.^[2][9]
• About 1282 – The learned annumerare appears in an Arezzo text.^[8]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses annoverare in the Inferno.^[10]
• Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses it for “to include among”.^[2]
• Before 1494 – Boiardo uses the inherited form anombrare.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To include in a group or class, to count among (with tra, fra or in): La critica lo annovera tra i grandi registi europei.^{[12][4][6][13][15]}
2. To enumerate, to list one by one.^{[12][4][6][14]}
3. (literary) To count, to number.^{[12][13][15][1]}
4. To have as a number, to count among its members: La squadra annovera tre campioni del mondo.^[14][1]

Word family

• annoverabile
• annoveramento

Related words

• novero
• noverare
• annumerare
• numerare
• Latin numerus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 34
8. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 2, 1434
9. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)