conseguenza

Forms

conseguenza f (plural conseguenze)^[1] Old Italian also wrote consequenza and conseguenzia.^[2] The spelling with ⟨qu⟩ survived into the 17th century and is now archaic.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cōnsequentia (“succession; logical consequence”), a learned word.^[5][6][7][1] DEI and the GDLI describe it as an adaptation of the Late Latin word, whose classical meaning was “succession, progression”.^[8][4] The Latin noun is formed from cōnsequēns (“following”), the present participle of cōnsequor (“to follow closely; to obtain”), a compound of con- and sequor (“to follow”).^[9][1][10]

The older form consequenza kept the Latin consonant.^[5] The form with ⟨gu⟩ was remade on the Italian verbs conseguire and seguire, as Devoto, Devoto–Oli, Sabatini–Coletti and Zingarelli point out.^{[11][3][9][12]} The TLIO, for its part, treats the word as a derivative of the Italian verb.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Restoro d'Arezzo's treatise on the composition of the world (1282), where the word names an effect produced by an earlier event, or what a premise implies.^[2][12] DELI dates consequenza to Dante (before 1321) and conseguenza to the Ottimo commento on the Commedia (14th century).^[5] In the Paradiso Beatrice tells Dante that he will see a “wonderful correspondence” (mirabil consequenza) between each heaven and the intelligence that moves it.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word for an effect, for the relation of logical dependence between statements, and in the adverbial phrase per conseguenza “as a result”.^[2] The Ottimo commento already argues that if a principle is corrupt its consequences must be corrupt too.^[4] In the 16th and 17th centuries the word could also mean “importance”: Sarpi writes of a matter of great moment that could bring great consequenze, and Galileo speaks of works of no less conseguenza.^[4][12] That sense is now archaic, like the sense “succession, sequence”, which Tommaseo still records beside a musical one, a fugue.^[9][13]

In the plural the word now usually refers to bad results: one pays the consequences of one's mistakes.^[7][3][14] In logic it names the relation between premises and the proposition that follows from them.^[7][12]

Timeline

• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses the word in his Composizione del mondo.^[2][12]
• Before 1321 – Dante writes consequenza in the Paradiso.^[5][4]
• 14th century – The Ottimo commento has the form conseguenza.^[5][4]
• 17th century – Galileo uses the word for “importance”.^[12][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A consequence: what follows logically from a premise, or results from an event: La chiusura della strada è una conseguenza della frana.^[7][3][9]
2. (chiefly plural) A bad effect or after-effect: Il paese ha pagato a lungo le conseguenze della crisi.^[7][3][14]
3. (logic, philosophy) The relation between one or more propositions taken as premises and another that follows from them.^[7][12]
4. (archaic) Importance, weight: una faccenda di poca conseguenza.^[7][3][15]

Word family

• inconseguenza

Related words

• conseguire
• conseguente
• seguire
• Latin consequentia

Usage notes

Di conseguenza and per conseguenza mean “consequently, therefore”;^[7][12][14] in conseguenza di means “as a result of, because of”.^[7][12][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 c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1067
9. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli