Etymologically
Log in

azienda

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 07:54. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /adˈd͡zjɛn.da/[1]

Forms

azienda f (plural aziende)[1] An older ziènda is recorded in Salvini and in popular rural speech, and Carducci wrote agènda.[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish hacienda, in the older spelling Old Spanish hazienda, “occupation; estate, wealth; administration of property”, recorded in Spanish from 1115.[3][4][5][6][1] The Spanish word continues Latin facienda (“things to be done”), the neuter plural of the gerundive of faciō (“to do, to make”), reinterpreted as a feminine singular.[4][7][5] In Spanish the meaning moved from “occupation” to “possessions” and then to “administration”, the sense in which Italian borrowed it.[8] The same Latin form gave Portuguese fazenda and Occitan fazenda, and in Italian, by inheritance, faccenda, a doublet of this word.[9][3][1]

The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Italic *faki-, from the root Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put”), whose final consonant arose in the aorist, as in Ancient Greek ἔθηκα (éthēka, “I put”).[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word appears in the reports that Venetian ambassadors read to the Senate: in 1602, and in 1608 Francesco Priuli describes the Spanish Consiglio d'Azienda, which dealt with the royal estate and the revenues and expenses of the Crown.[3][5] The first sense is thus the administration of a patrimony.[6][8]

Semantic evolution

Tommaseo's dictionary (1861) still gives the old sense, the management of the economic affairs of a household or commune, and a colloquial “messy business”.[11] In the 19th century the word took on its modern economic meaning, an organisation of people and goods that produces goods or services;[8][5] azienda agricola is a farm business.[8][5] The adjective aziendale is recorded from 1931, aziendalismo from 1959.[3][4]

In law the azienda is the set of assets the entrepreneur organises to run the business.[5][6] Public bodies with financial autonomy are also called aziende, from the azienda autonoma to the azienda sanitaria locale, the local health authority.[12][7][8]

Timeline

  • 1115 – Spanish hacienda is first recorded.[3][5]
  • 1602 – Azienda appears in the reports of Venetian ambassadors.[3][5]
  • 1608 – Priuli describes the Spanish Consiglio d'Azienda.[3]
  • 1931 – Aziendale is recorded.[3][4]
  • 1959 – Aziendalismo is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A company, a business: an organisation of people and goods for an economic purpose: Lavora da vent'anni nella stessa azienda.[5][13][7]
  2. (law) The assets organised by the entrepreneur to run a business.[5][13][6]
  3. A public body with administrative autonomy that runs a service.[7][12]
  4. (figurative) A sector or country seen as an economic whole.[13][12]
  5. (archaic) The estate of a public body or private person; the administration of affairs.[5][6][14]

Word family

  • aziendale
  • aziendalismo
  • aziendalista

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 91
  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 d e 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  7. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  8. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ 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
  14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli