divino

Forms

divino (feminine divina, masculine plural divini, feminine plural divine)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin dīvīnus (“divine, of a god”), formed from dīvus (“god; godlike”).^[2][3][4][1] DEI, Zingarelli and the GDLI class it as a learned word.^[5][6][7] The sense “prophet, soothsayer” of the old noun is also learned, from Latin use of the word for one inspired by a deity, a seer.^[5]

Nocentini compares French devin and Spanish divino.^[3] Meyer-Lübke lists the same French form and Old Occitan devin, with a prefix Spanish adivino and Portuguese adivinho, and Welsh has dewin.^[8] Körting adds that French has the learned divin beside the inherited form.^[9] DEI calls the French form, of the 12th century, semi-learned.^[5]

The Latin adjective is inherited from Proto-Italic *deiwīnos, and by surface analysis it is its base with the suffix -īnus.^[1][10] De Vaan explains deus (“god”) and the base as two outcomes of one Proto-Italic stem.^[11] After the diphthong became long /ē/, /w/ was lost before back vowels, while the long vowel was raised to /ī/ where /w/ remained, and the two forms were later differentiated in meaning.^[11] The stem goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dei-u-o- (“god, divinity (god of the clear sky)”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Libro of Uguccione da Lodi, a Cremonese text of the early 13th century, with the sense “of God, belonging to or relating to God”.^[12] DELI dates the sense “relating to God or the gods” to Brunetto Latini, before 1294, who wrote that the image and figure of all creation was eternally “in the divine mind” (in divina mente).^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian had the forms devino, devin and northern and southern divin and divinu, and Iacopone da Todi addresses a “divine love” (devino amore).^[12][7] Beside its religious sense the word soon praised whatever seemed to share in the divine: DELI dates “excellent, extraordinary, superhuman” to Petrarch, before 1374.^[2] Old texts also used it for one with the gift of prophecy, and as a noun for a soothsayer or prophet, and they played on divino, di vino “of wine” and indovino “soothsayer”.^[12][5] Dante has the noun for the divine as against the human: io, che al divino da l'umano … era venuto “I, who had come to the divine from the human”.^[13][14]

The noun could also mean a god (Anguillara's “marine gods”, marittimi divini) and, in Fra Giordano, a learned theologian.^[15] Dante became il divino poeta, and his poem the Divina Commedia.^[13][6] By antonomasia la Divina was a name for great actresses, among them Greta Garbo.^[13] In everyday speech the adjective is a strong word of praise, “gorgeous” or, of food, “delicious”.^[4][16] Pietra divina was the name of a caustic once used in medicine.^[13]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses divino in a Cremonese text.^[12]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini writes divina mente.^[2][7]
• 14th century – The noun divino “prophet” is recorded.^[5]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses the word in the sense “excellent, superhuman”.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to God or the gods, coming from or willed by God: Lo considerarono un segno della volontà divina.^{[4][16][14][6]}
2. Having the nature of a deity: Nel mito l'eroe aveva un padre divino.^[4][6][16]
3. Worthy of a god: onori divini, honours such as are paid to a god.^[4][6]
4. (figurative) sublime, excellent, superhuman: il divino poeta, Dante.^[4][6][17]
5. (hyperbolic, colloquial) gorgeous, wonderful; of food, delicious: Il tiramisù di tua nonna era divino.^[4][16][14]
6. (archaic) Foreseeing the future, prophetic.^[4][6][13]

Noun

1. The divine: the nature or essence of God, or what concerns the deity: Il pittore cercava il divino nei paesaggi.^{[4][6][17][18]}
2. A person of extraordinary beauty, charm or talent;^[6][13] la Divina, il Divino as a name for great actors, singers and artists.^[6][13]
3. (obsolete) A prophet, soothsayer.^[4][6][18]

Word family

• divinamente
• divinizzare
• divinale
• semidivino

Related words

• divo
• dio
• divinità
• divinare
• divinazione
• indovino
• Latin divinus
• French divin

Usage notes

The form divino is also the first person singular present of the verb divinare.^[19] The superlative divinissimo is used in the sense “sublime”, and Dante already has it.^[13][20]

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. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1367
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
13. ^ a b c d e f g h Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
17. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
18. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
19. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
20. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 385