esperienza

Forms

esperienza f (plural esperienze)^[1] Old Italian also had esperienzia, sperienza, isperienza and asperienza, and Latinizing spellings such as experientia and experienza.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin experientia (“trial, test; experience”), taken from the accusative ⟨experientiam⟩.^{[5][6][7][8][9]} The Latin noun is formed from experiēns, the present participle of experior (“to try, put to the test”), with the suffix -ia.^{[10][1][11][12]} The verb esperire continues the same verb.^[5][12]

The same learned word is French expérience, recorded from the 13th century, and Spanish experiencia.^[7][6] The LEI lists ⟨sperienza⟩ and ⟨esperienza⟩ among the learned forms of the Latin word.^[13] DEI compares Ancient Greek πεῖρα (peîra, “trial, attempt”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Parlamenti of Guido Faba (Bologna, about 1243).^[2] DELI dates the sense “knowledge and practice gained by trying things oneself or seeing them done”, also knowledge of the world, to Onesto da Bologna, who died before 1303.^[5][8]

Semantic evolution

Around 1304 Giordano da Pisa used the word for a trial that lets one learn something at first hand, and before 1321 Dante used it for a phenomenon produced on purpose in order to study it, an experiment.^[5][2] Leonardo da Vinci wrote that la esperienza non falla mai, ma sol fallano i nostri giudizi (“experience never errs, only our judgements err”), and Galileo still used esperienza for a physical experiment.^[9] Manzoni could use it in the literary sense of an experienced person.^[14]

In modern Italian the word also covers an event that leaves a mark on someone, an episode of life, and, usually in the plural and as a euphemism, a love affair.^[8][11][4] In philosophy it names knowledge given by the senses and the whole of what is perceived and verified.^[14][4]

Timeline

• c. 1243 – Guido Faba's Parlamenti give the first record.^[2]
• Before 1303 – Onesto da Bologna uses the word for knowledge gained by practice.^[5]
• c. 1304 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for a trial or test.^[5]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for an experiment.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. experience: direct knowledge of something gained by observation or practice: Lo so per esperienza, non per sentito dire.^[8][14][11]
2. Practical knowledge of life and the world, or skill gained in a job: Cercano un tecnico con molta esperienza.^[8][14]
3. An event or episode lived through, especially one that changes a person: Il viaggio in Africa è stata un'esperienza bellissima.^[8][11][4]
4. (euphemistic, often plural) A love affair.^[8][11][4]
5. (philosophy) Knowledge that comes from the senses, and the whole of what is perceived.^[14][4]
6. (science) An experiment: un'esperienza di ottica.^[14][11]

Word family

• inesperienza
• esperienziale

Related words

• esperire
• esperto
• esperimento
• Latin experientia

Usage notes

Fare esperienza means to gain practice, and per esperienza means from first-hand knowledge.^[8][4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d e f g Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 22, 763
14. ^ 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