crescente

Forms

crescente m or f by sense (plural crescenti)^[1] Old Italian spellings include cresciente, Old Italian chresciente, Old Italian cressente and Old Italian crexente.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Italian crescere (“to grow”): its present participle, used as an adjective and as a noun.^[3][4][5][6] Wiktionary takes it directly from the accusative of Latin crēscēns, the Latin present participle, and calls it a doublet of croissant.^[1]

The verb continues Latin crēscō (“to grow, increase”), which goes back to the root Proto-Indo-European *ḱreh₁- (“to grow, become bigger”).^[4][1][7] The verb is found across Romance, as French croître, Catalan créixer, Spanish crecer, Portuguese crescer and Romanian crește.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Tuscan translation of Albertano made by Andrea da Grosseto in 1268, where the word means “growing” of a person or animal still developing.^[2] DELI's first record, before 1292, is in Bono Giamboni.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used crescente of feelings and virtues that grow stronger, of fame, of the waxing moon, of a river in flood and of swollen arteries: luna crescente also stood for good fortune.^[2] As a noun it already meant leaven.^[2] The feminine noun la crescente was used in the 16th and 17th centuries for the rising of water and the high tide.^[8][9]

The masculine noun, the crescent of the moon and the heraldic half-moon, is recorded in 1892.^[3] In Emilia crescente is a fried flatbread, a Bolognese word named from the dough rising, and Artusi records it.^[10][11] In Sicily the word names sourdough.^[12][11] The saying gobba a ponente, luna crescente tells the waxing moon by the side its curve faces.^[5][13] Modern dictionaries add a mathematical sense, an increasing function, and a musical one, a note sung or played sharp.^[12][14]

Timeline

• 1268 – Andrea da Grosseto uses crescente.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it.^[3]
• 16th–17th century – The feminine noun is used for high tide.^[8]
• 1892 – The masculine noun for the crescent moon and the heraldic crescent is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Growing, increasing: Si nota un interesse crescente per la cucina regionale.^[5][14][6]
2. Of the moon: waxing, between the new moon and the full moon: luna crescente.^[5][15][16]
3. (mathematics) Of a function: increasing, taking larger values as the variable grows.^[12][5][6]
4. (music) Of a note: sharp, out of tune by being too high.^[14]

Noun

1. (masculine, astronomy) The crescent shape of the Moon, Mercury or Venus close to their conjunction with the Earth and the Sun.^[12][11]
2. (masculine, heraldry) A half-moon on a shield.^[12][11][6]
3. (feminine) In Emilia, a fried focaccia of flour, water and lard.^[12][11][14]
4. (feminine) In Sicily, sourdough starter.^[12][11]
5. (feminine, obsolete) A rise of water; high tide.^[15][9]

Word family

• crescentina
• crescentemente

Related words

• crescere
• crescenza
• crescendo
• Latin crēscēns
• French croissant

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 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 Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1153
9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 957
10. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 346
11. ^ a b c d e f 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET