avvento

Forms

avvento m (plural avventi)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin adventus (“arrival, coming”), a learned word according to DELI, DEI and the Battaglia dictionary.^[2][3][4] The LEI disagrees: in its view the Latin word was inherited, with regular sound changes, and survives only in Italian.^[5] The Latin noun is formed from adveniō (“to arrive”) with the action-noun suffix -tus.^[6][1][2] That verb is ad- plus veniō (“to come”).^[7]

In Church Latin adventus Domini (“the coming of the Lord”) became the name of the four weeks before Christmas from the Council of Lérida (524) on, and by the 7th century the whole Church kept it.^[5][8] As a Christian word it passed into Old French advent (about 1140), Old Spanish aviento (1253), Basque abendu “November”, Friulian avènt and Dalmatian adviánt.^[5][8] Tommaseo noted how the Christians turned a word for any coming into a name for the coming of Christ.^[9][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Florentine document of 1287, and Guittone d'Arezzo uses avento before 1294 in the sense “arrival, coming”.^[10][2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian nell'avvento di meant “on the arrival of”, and Boccaccio's nel primo avvento meant “at first sight, straight away”.^[5][10] The word was used for the coming of Christ to earth, and buono avvento meant a good outcome.^[10] The liturgical season is first recorded in Fazio degli Uberti, before 1367.^[2][5] Dialects have it mostly in this sense: Piedmontese avent, Sicilian avventu, with the phrase fari l'avventu “to fast during Advent”.^[5]

After Savonarola (1498) the LEI records the general sense of an important arrival again from Oriani (1892) on, for example the coming of a new era, and it came to mean accession to a high office, the throne or power.^[5][11][4] Avventista, a member of the Adventist churches, is a loan from English adventist.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 524 – The Council of Lérida establishes Advent as a season before Christmas.^[5]
• 1287 – A Florentine document uses avvento.^[10]
• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses avento for “arrival”.^[2][4]
• Before 1367 – Fazio degli Uberti uses it for the liturgical season.^[2]
• 1892 – Oriani revives the general sense “arrival”.^[5]
• 1927 – Avventista is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (formal) Coming, arrival, especially of something important: l'avvento della ferrovia cambiò il paese.^[11][12][13]
2. accession to a high office: avvento al trono, avvento al potere.^[11][14][15]
3. (Christianity) The coming of Christ into the world.^[11][12][15]
4. (Christianity, often capitalised) Advent, the four weeks of preparation before Christmas: la prima domenica di Avvento.^[11][14][13]

Word family

• avventista

Related words

• avvenire
• avventura
• avvenimento
• Latin adventus

Usage notes

The name of the season is usually written with a capital: l'Avvento, il calendario dell'Avvento.^[11][15] Avvento is also a form of the verb avventare, “I fling”.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 381
4. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 923
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 382
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, 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. ^ 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli