convenire

Forms

convenire (first-person singular present convèngo, first-person singular past historic convénni or convènni, past participle convenùto, first-person singular future converrò, auxiliary (intransitive in most meanings) èssere or (transitive, also intransitive when meaning "to agree") avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin conveniō (“to come together; to agree; to be fitting”), a compound of con- (“with, together”) and veniō (“to come”).^[2][1][3] DELI classes the Italian verb as a learned word, while Nocentini and DEI treat it as a word continued in all the Romance languages.^[4][2][5]

The same verb is French convenir, Occitan covenir, Catalan convenir, Spanish convenir, Portuguese convir, Sardinian cumbènnere and Romanian cuveni (“to be due”).^[2][6] In Old French and in the north-east of Italy it became a modal verb meaning “must”, and as such it was heavily shortened, as in Venetian cògner (also with ⟨s-⟩) and Romagnol kuiner.^[6][5]

The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Italic *komgʷəniō.^[1] Its base, the verb for “to come”, goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (“to come”), the root of Ancient Greek βαίνω (baínō, “to go”) and Gothic 𐌵𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 (qiman, “to come”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record of the verb is in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur, from the last quarter of the 12th century.^[8] Among the senses that DELI dates, the oldest are “to be fitting, appropriate” (before 1292, Bono Giamboni) and the impersonal “to be necessary, proper” (before 1294, Brunetto Latini).^[4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already had nearly all the modern senses: coming together in one place, reaching an agreement, fixing a price or the terms of a contract, being suitable, and being useful or profitable, also in the economic sense.^[8] Guittone d'Arezzo used it transitively for “to agree on” before 1294, and the Fatti di Cesare, at the end of the 13th century, for “to summon to court”, the sense that survives in legal language.^[4] Dante has the sense “to gather”: tutti convegnon qui d'ogni paese (“all gather here from every land”, Inferno 3).^[9][10]

The sense “to agree with someone, concede” is dated by DELI only from Ariosto in 1532.^[4] In the dialects of north-eastern Italy the impersonal use turned into a modal verb of necessity.^[6] The pronominal convenirsi “to be fitting” is old; in the sense “to come to an agreement with someone” it is now obsolete.^[3][11]

Timeline

• 1175–1200 – The verb is recorded in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur.^[8]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for “to be fitting”.^[4]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini has the impersonal “to be necessary”, and Guittone d'Arezzo the transitive “to agree on”.^[4]
• Late 13th century – The Fatti di Cesare use it for “to summon to court”.^[4]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for “to gather” and for “to be advantageous”.^[4]
• 1532 – Ariosto uses it for “to agree, concede”.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To gather in one place, coming from different directions;^[12][13][3] (literary) of roads or rivers, to converge: I pellegrini convennero al santuario da ogni valle.^[12][13][3]
2. (intransitive) To agree, be of the same opinion; to admit: Devi convenire che il piano era rischioso.^[12][14][11]
3. (transitive) To settle by common consent, agree on: Abbiamo convenuto la data della consegna.^[12][3][15]
4. (intransitive) To suit, be appropriate, especially as regards good manners: Quel tono non conviene a un giudice.^[12][3][11]
5. (intransitive) To be advantageous or worthwhile: Con questi prezzi l'abbonamento non ci conviene.^[12][14][3]
6. (impersonal) To be advisable or necessary: Conviene partire prima dell'alba.^[12][3][16]
7. (transitive, law) To sue, summon to court: convenire in giudizio.^[12][3][1]
8. (transitive, archaic) To summon, call to oneself.^[12][16][1]

Word family

• convenuto
• conveniente
• convenevole
• convenevolezza
• sconvenire
• riconvenire

Related words

• convenienza
• convento
• convenzione
• venire
• convegno
• conventicola
• convenzionale
• inconveniente
• Latin conveniō
• French convenir

Usage notes

The auxiliary is essere in the senses “gather”, “suit” and “be advantageous”, and avere in the sense “agree”.^[1][11] The pronominal convenirsi means “to be fitting”, as in come si conviene (“as is proper”).^[16][3] Ne convengo means “I agree, I grant that”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1090
6. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ 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
13. ^ 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
14. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana