assenza

Forms

assenza f (plural assenze)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian absenzia, Old Italian assenzia, Old Italian asenza and Old Italian essenza.^[2]

Etymology

It is a learned word: it is borrowed from Late Latin absentia (“absence”), which Nocentini calls Late Latin.^[3][4][5][6] The Latin noun is formed from absēns (“absent”) and -ia.^[1][7] That adjective is the present participle of absum (“to be away”), from ab (“from, away”) and sum (“to be”).^[1][7] The same Latin word is the source of assente, which comes from the participle.^[3]

The popular outcome of the Latin noun is the preposition senza “without”, recorded in Prato as sentia in 1104; it is matched by Occitan sensa, Old French sanz and French sans.^[8][9][6] This etymology, defended by Meyer-Lübke, Prati, Battisti–Alessio and Rohlfs, was rejected by von Wartburg and Corominas; the LEI supports it with Old Milanese asensa, which points to a phrase in absentia alicuius (“in the absence of someone”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Bono Giamboni's Florentine translation of Orosius, before 1292, for a person's absence from a place where they should be.^[2][10] DELI's first date is Dante's Convivio (1304–1308).^[4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already had the phrase in assenza “in someone's absence”, a legal sense “default”, the failure to appear in court, and a philosophical sense, privation, used of the absence of the sun.^[2] Dante's Convivio speaks of a star seen “a la presenza del sole e a la sua assenza” (in the presence of the sun and in its absence).^[11] Old texts also have assenzia and Latin-looking absenzia.^[12][2] A Tuscan proverb sets it against its opposite: “Chi ti loda in presenza, ti biasima in assenza” (who praises you to your face blames you behind your back).^[12]

The general sense “lack” of things is dated by DELI to Benedetto Croce (1908).^[4] In modern use it is also a term of law, the long disappearance of a person declared by a court, and of medicine, a brief loss of consciousness in some forms of epilepsy.^[5][13]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses assenza in his translation of Orosius.^[2]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses assenza in the Convivio.^[4]
• 1908 – Benedetto Croce uses it for a lack of something.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Absence: being away from a place where one should be or usually is; also each single time one is absent: Il professore ha segnato tre assenze sul registro.^[5][14][10]
2. Lack of something: l'assenza di ossigeno.^[5][10] Phrase: in assenza di (without, failing).^[5][10][15]
3. (law) The prolonged disappearance of a person, with doubt whether they are alive: dichiarazione di assenza.^[5][14][10]
4. (medicine) An absence seizure: a sudden, brief loss of consciousness, typical of some forms of epilepsy.^[5][14][13]
5. (figurative) A moment of distraction or absent-mindedness.^[16][15]

Related words

• assente
• senza
• presenza
• Latin absentia

Usage notes

Brillare per la propria assenza “to be conspicuous by one's absence” is a set phrase.^[5][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 330
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 166
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 1, 760
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli