assoluto

Forms

assoluto (feminine assoluta, masculine plural assoluti, feminine plural assolute)^[1] Early texts also have Old Italian asoluto, Old Italian absoluto and Old Italian ossoluta.^[2]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin absolūtus (“loosened; complete, perfect; unconditioned”), the past participle of absolvō (“to loosen, set free; finish, acquit”).^{[3][4][5][6][1][7]} The sense “free from everything, unconditioned” was handed down by medieval Latin theology; in the Medieval Latin of Italy the word still meant “immune, perfect, unconditioned” in the 9th century, and Late Latin had also used it for “proved, evident”.^[8] There is also Old French asolu (“perfect”).^[8]

Sabatini–Coletti and Gabrielli treat the word as the old past participle of assolvere, and the LEI lists it, under the Latin verb, as the weak past participle of its Italian outcome;^{[9][10][11][5][4]} GRADIT, DELI and Nocentini take it from Latin.^{[9][10][11][5][4]}

The Latin verb is ab- with solvō (“to loosen, release”).^[12] De Vaan explains the simple verb as a compound of the element of sē- (“apart”) and -luō (“to loosen”).^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Brunetto Latini's Rettorica (about 1260–1261), in the sense “free from any limit or condition”.^[2][3] Latini, following Cicero, calls a question assoluta when it in sé medesima è disciolta e dilibera (“is loosed and free in itself”).^[6]

Semantic evolution

Dante's Voglia assoluta non consente al danno (“the absolute will does not consent to harm”) set the philosophical use, and his commentators set the volontà assoluta against the respettiva.^[6] Old Italian also used the word in the senses of its Latin verb: pardoned of sins (Iacopone, 1306), decided, of a question (Giordano da Pisa, 1306), and freed from something (Dante, 1308).^[11][2] The sense “general, universal” is recorded from M. Villani (before 1363).^[3]

As a noun, assoluto meant what is not conditioned in Pallavicino (1644), and the Absolute, what has the reason of its being in itself, in Leopardi.^[11][3] Politics gave monarchia and potere assoluto, and later sport the campione assoluto.^[5][13] In music the word was used from 1622 for writing free from the rules of counterpoint, and German took it from there in 1879.^[14] Some Tuscan and Abruzzese dialects use it for unmixed food or wine.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1260–1261 – Brunetto Latini uses assoluto in his Rettorica.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Latini uses it for “free from limits”.^[3]
• 1306 – Iacopone uses it for “pardoned” and Giordano da Pisa for “decided”.^[11]
• 1308 – Dante uses assoluto da for “freed from”.^[11]
• Before 1363 – M. Villani uses it for “general, universal”.^[3]
• 1622 – The musical sense is recorded.^[14]
• 1644 – Pallavicino uses the noun for what is not conditioned.^[11]
• 1817–1832 – Leopardi uses the noun for the Absolute.^[3]
• 1879 – German borrows the musical term.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. absolute: free from any limit, condition or relation; unconditional: libertà assoluta.^[5][15][13]
2. General, universal: verità assoluta.^[5][15][9]
3. (politics) Of power, a ruler or a regime: not limited by laws or a parliament: monarchia assoluta.^[5][16][10]
4. Holding unchallenged power: Era il padrone assoluto della fabbrica.^[5][15]
5. Complete, total, utter: Ho una fiducia assoluta nel mio medico.^[5][15][17]
6. Urgent, pressing: bisogno assoluto.^[5][15][13]
7. peremptory, dogmatic.^[15][9][17]
8. Of a person, out-and-out, thorough: un egoista assoluto.^[5]
9. (sport) Regardless of any division into categories: campione assoluto.^[5][13]
10. (grammar) Of a construction, without a syntactic link to the rest of the sentence: ablativo assoluto; of a verb, used without its usual object.^[5][13][10]
11. (mathematics, physics, chemistry) In set phrases: valore assoluto, zero assoluto, alcol assoluto.^[9][17][10]
12. in assoluto: without qualification, of all: È il film più bello in assoluto.^[15][17][16]

Noun

1. (philosophy) The Absolute: what has the reason of its being in itself and is the ground of all things.^[3][9]
2. (sport, plural) gli assoluti: the national championships.^[17][13]
3. (rare) infinity.^[1]

Word family

• assolutezza
• assolutismo
• assolutamente
• assolutizzare

Related words

• assolutista
• assolvere
• Latin absolutus

Usage notes

GRADIT has a second assoluto, the obsolete past participle of assolvere (“acquitted, absolved”), now replaced by assolto.^{[5][17][13][18]} Tommaseo also records an adverbial assoluto, “absolutely”, as in comandava assoluto.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 81
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 334
9. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b c d e Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 179
12. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
15. ^ 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
16. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
18. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET