diciannove

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin decem (et) novem (“ten and nine”), a phrase with novem (“nine”) that Caesar and Livy already used more than classical ūndēvīgintī, literally “one from twenty”.^[2][1][3] Nocentini and Devoto–Oli start from an earlier Old Italian diciennove and the Italian phrase dieci e nove, which replaced the Latin word.^[4][5] GRADIT, Zingarelli, Treccani and Wiktionary join the two numbers with ac (“and”), DELI and Gabrielli with et (“and”).^{[6][7][8][1][2][9]} Rohlfs found both in the Italian numerals, while Schmid doubts the form with the first.^[10]

The older forms dicennove and dicesette continue the Latin phrases directly, and the dialects from one end of Italy to the other presuppose them.^[2] E. Poppe showed that the ⟨a⟩ of the modern word and of diciassette is a later Florentine and Tuscan change: Florentine disliked ⟨e⟩ before ⟨e⟩ and turned the first into ⟨a⟩, and the numerals in ⟨-a⟩ such as trentasette helped the new forms win.^[2] Salvioni had explained them by the influence of trenta.^[10] Devoto notes the change of unstressed ⟨e⟩ to ⟨i⟩ in the first syllable.^[11] Wiktionary compares Venetian disinove.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is diciennove in a Florentine bankers' account book of 1211, in the sense “nineteen”.^[2][12][6] The form diciannove, written diecianove, is found only from 1377.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian had many forms, among them dicennove, dicenove, decinove and dicienove.^[12] Restoro d'Arezzo wrote dicinove in 1282, and dicenove was still used by Bandello in 1554 and Daniello Bartoli in 1670, diecinove by Botta in 1835.^[10][13] The ordinal diciannovesimo is recorded before 1388 in Antonio Pucci, and diciannovenne in 1886.^[2] In Tuscany a diciannovino was a coin of nineteen quattrini.^[14]

An old phrase, trarre diciannove (“to throw nineteen”), meant to have extraordinary luck, nineteen being more than three dice can show.^[15] In modern use the number also names the university mark one point above a pass, and le diciannove is seven in the evening.^[5][8]

Timeline

• 1211 – diciennove appears in a Florentine bankers' account book.^[2][12]
• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo writes dicinove.^[10]
• 1377 – the form with ⟨a⟩, diecianove, is first recorded.^[2]
• Before 1388 – Antonio Pucci uses diciannovesimo.^[2]
• 1554 – Bandello still writes dicenove.^[10]
• 1886 – diciannovenne is recorded in the newspaper L'Arena.^[2]

Meanings

Numeral

1. nineteen, ten plus nine (19, XIX), as a cardinal number: Nel parcheggio c'erano diciannove biciclette.^[6][5][7]
2. After a noun, as an ordinal: nineteenth: Leggete il capitolo diciannove.^[6][5]

Noun

1. The number nineteen, and the sign for it.^[6][5][7]
2. The nineteenth day of a month; the year '19 of a century.^[6][8]
3. (education) A university mark of nineteen, one point above a pass.^[5][16]
4. (feminine plural) le diciannove: seven in the evening.^[6][7][16]

Word family

• diciannovenne
• diciannovesimo

Related words

• dieci
• nove
• diciassette
• diciotto
• Latin decem
• Latin novem

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
10. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 482
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 4, 356
14. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1289
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana