appariscente

Forms

appariscente m or f (plural appariscenti)^[1] Old Italian forms include apariscente, aparisente and aparsente.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin apparescentem (“appearing”), the present participle of appārēscō (“to begin to appear”), a verb formed with the inchoative suffix on Latin appāreō (“to appear”).^[3][4][1][5] The verb is recorded from the 3rd or 4th century.^[5] Devoto sees the Italian vowel /i/ as a crossing with apparire.^[6]

appārēscō lives on in Old French apareistre, French apparaître, Old Occitan apareyser, Catalan aparèixer, Spanish aparecer, Portuguese aparecer and Friulian imparêsi.^[5] The participle followed its own path: beside Old French aparissant (“evident”), the Italian adjective formed a new group of senses.^[5]

Latin appāreō is formed from ad- and pāreō (“to be visible”).^[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Italian translation of Albertano, about 1300, in the sense “easily seen, evident”: faith is called “proof of things not seen” (prova di cose non appariscenti).^[8][9][10]

Semantic evolution

From “visible, evident” the word moved to persons: Boccaccio (1353) uses it for “handsome, of fine presence”, and Passavanti for a man of imposing stature.^[10][11][2] From 1554, in Della Casa, it means “striking, showy”, of faces, wealth or manners, the sense that now prevails.^[10][9] In the 19th century Rigutini and Fanfani recorded it for “apparent, not real”, and Tommaseo for a plant that looks promising.^[10]

Today it is often pejorative, of clothes or colours that are loud or vulgar.^[4][12] The noun appariscenza is even older than the adjective, from the end of the 13th century in the Novellino.^[10]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – Appariscenza appears in the Novellino.^[10]
• About 1300 – Appariscente “evident” appears in the translation of Albertano.^[8]
• 1353 – Boccaccio uses it for “handsome”.^[10]
• 1554 – Della Casa uses it for “showy”.^[10]
• 1560 – Vicentine apparescente is recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. showy, eye-catching, especially of clothes, sometimes gaudy: Indossava una camicia troppo appariscente.^[3][12][4]
2. Of a person, striking, of fine presence.^[3][13]
3. Clearly visible, evident.^[3][14]
4. (archaic) Good-looking.^[3]

Word family

• appariscenza
• inappariscente
• disappariscente

Related words

• apparire
• apparenza
• Latin appāreō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 189
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 1, 554
10. ^ 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. 3, 190
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)