decisione

Forms

decisione f (plural decisioni)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dēcīsiō (“a settlement, decision”), from dēcīdō (“to cut off; to settle”), a compound of dē- and caedō (“to cut”).^[2][3][4][5] The Latin noun is in Cicero.^[6] It is a learned word, as are French décision (from 1314), Catalan decisió (from 1517), Spanish decisión (from 1565) and Portuguese decisão (17th century).^[6][7]

The Latin verb meant “to cut off” before it meant “to settle”, and the rare sense “cutting off, separation” also came into Italian.^[2][6] Zingarelli dates the word to 1342, the TLIO to Boccaccio's “Ameto” of 1341–1342, and GRADIT to before 1375.^[7][8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is Boccaccio's Ameto (1341–1342), where the word means the act of choosing between two or more possibilities: “Pensata nuova maniera a decisione della presente quistione” (having thought of a new way to settle the present question).^[8][9] There the phrase a decisione di means “in order to decide”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense, the judgment that settles a dispute, is recorded in Perugia in 1342 and in Florence as dicisione in 1356–1357, and DELI has it in Andrea Torini before 1390.^[6][2] In the plural the word also named a collection of such judgments.^[10]

The sense “resoluteness, firmness” is recorded around 1601 in Scipione Ammirato, and in Muratori in 1706.^[6][2] The old physical sense, “separation, a part cut off”, appears in Dante's Monarchia, in Bernardo Segni before 1558, who called atoms piccole decisioni, and in Giordano Bruno in 1584.^[10][6]

The 20th century added decisionale (from 1969), the sporting decisione arbitrale (the referee's ruling, from 1982), the statistical teoria delle decisioni, and in philosophy Heidegger's term for man's projecting himself towards his own possibilities.^[6][4][11]

Timeline

• 1341–1342 – Boccaccio's Ameto has the first record.^[8]
• 1342 – The legal sense is recorded at Perugia.^[6]
• 1356–1357 – Florentine dicisione is recorded.^[6]
• Before 1390 – Andrea Torini uses the legal sense.^[2]
• 1584 – Giordano Bruno uses the word for “separation”.^[6]
• c. 1601 – Scipione Ammirato uses it for “resoluteness”.^[6]
• 1969 – Decisionale is recorded.^[6]
• 1982 – Decisione arbitrale is recorded in sport.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. decision: the choice made between several possibilities; a resolution: Dopo una settimana di dubbi ha preso la sua decisione.^{[4][11][12][1]}
2. (law) A judgment that settles a dispute or a case.^[4][11][7]
3. decisiveness, firmness in acting: Il nuovo allenatore ha guidato la squadra con decisione.^{[4][11][12][1]}
4. (statistics) In teoria delle decisioni, the study of how to choose among alternatives.^[4][12][13]
5. (philosophy) In Heidegger, man's projecting himself towards his own possibilities.^[11]
6. (archaic) Separation, division; a part divided from the whole.^[4][11][13]

Word family

• indecisione
• decisionale
• codecisione
• decisionismo
• decisionista

Related words

• decidere
• deciso
• Latin dēcīsiō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 560
7. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana