divenire

Forms

divenire (first-person singular present divèngo, first-person singular past historic divénni or divènni, past participle divenùto, first-person singular future diverrò, auxiliary èssere)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dēveniō (“to come down; to arrive”), formed from dē- and veniō (“to come”).^[2][3][4][5] In Late Latin the verb took on the senses found in the Romance languages, “to become” among them.^[6][3] DELI treats the Italian word as learned, while Sabatini–Coletti calls it the popular form beside Old Italian devenire, and the LEI files it with the inherited words.^[2][7][6] Devoto saw the Italian prefix di- in it.^[8]

The same word is French devenir and Occitan devenir, from which came Spanish devenir.^[3][6] Körting regarded diventare as its frequentative.^[9] The verb for “to come” goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʷm̥-ie/o- (“to come”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a 12th-century Corsican document, and its first sense is “to arrive at a place”.^[11] Bonagiunta (before 1257) has dovenuto “happened”, and Brunetto Latini (before 1294) uses the verb for “to become”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb for arriving somewhere, for passing into someone's hands, for coming about as a result, and for happening.^[11] Dante writes noi divenimmo intanto a piè del monte (“meanwhile we came to the foot of the mountain”).^[4][5] Of these only “to become” is current; the others are archaic.^[12]

The nominalised infinitive il divenire, the ceaseless flow of change opposed to being, was introduced in philosophy by Antonio Rosmini in 1853.^[2][12][7] The concept goes back to Heraclitus.^[13]

Timeline

• 12th century – A Corsican document has the verb “to arrive”.^[11]
• Before 1257 – Bonagiunta has dovenuto “happened”.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses divenire “to become”.^[2]
• 1292–1293 – Dante's Vita Nuova has divenire and devenire.^[6]
• 1853 – Antonio Rosmini uses the noun divenire in philosophy.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To become; to pass, usually gradually, from one state to another: divenire famoso.^[4][12][7]
2. (archaic) To arrive, reach.^[4][12]
3. (archaic) To come from, derive.^[4][12]
4. (archaic) To happen.^[4][12]

Noun

1. (philosophy) becoming: the ceaseless flow of change in all things, opposed to being.^[4][12][5]

Word family

• addivenire
• ridivenire

Related words

• diventare
• venire
• Latin dēveniō
• French devenir

Usage notes

Divenire is conjugated like venire and takes essere.^[12][1] In everyday speech diventare is more usual.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 20, 61
7. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 4, 857