esperimento

Forms

esperimento m (plural esperimenti)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian sperimento, Old Italian spermento, Old Italian espermento and Old Italian isperimento.^[2]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin experīmentum (“trial, test”), derived from experior (“to try, test”).^[3][4][5][1] The Latin noun is formed from the verb with the suffix -mentum.^[6][1] The verb is made of ex- and a simple verb also found in opperior, and the OLD compares perīculum and Ancient Greek πεῖρα (peîra, “trial”).^[6] The same Latin word is Old French experiment and Spanish experimento.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Tuscan translation by Andrea da Grosseto of 1268, where esperimento means direct knowledge gained from experience and practice.^[2] DELI dates the form sperimento to Giordano da Pisa (1305–1306) and esperimento to Alberto della Piagentina (before 1332), in the sense of a test of the qualities of something or someone.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word also meant putting a person to the test, a remedy against a disease, and a painful trial or torment.^[2] The scientific sense of an artificial test with observation and comparison is dated to Burchiello, before 1449.^[3] The Italian translation of Crescenzi says Avemo per esperimento provato (“we have found by experiment”) of the cold of snow.^[7]

In later centuries the word was used for school examinations and tests of fitness for an office, a sense now rare.^[8][9] The bureaucratic esperimento delle vie legali keeps the sense of having recourse to something, from esperire.^[10][11] Esperimento concettuale is a calque of German Gedankenexperiment.^[11]

Timeline

• 1268 – Andrea da Grosseto uses esperimento for knowledge from experience.^[2]
• 1305–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses the form sperimento.^[3]
• Before 1332 – Alberto della Piagentina uses esperimento for a test.^[3]
• Before 1449 – Burchiello uses it for a scientific experiment.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A test or trial made to learn the qualities of something or someone: fare qualcosa in via di esperimento.^[5][9][10]
2. (science) An experiment: the reproduction or observation of a phenomenon under controlled conditions, to test a hypothesis: un esperimento di chimica.^[5][11][12]
3. (bureaucratic) Recourse to something: l'esperimento delle vie legali.^[5][11][10]
4. (uncommon) An exercise or examination.^[5][9]

Word family

• sperimentare
• sperimentale
• sperimentazione
• sperimentatore
• sperimentalismo

Related words

• esperienza
• esperire
• sperimentabile
• esperto
• Latin experīmentum

Usage notes

The older form sperimento is archaic.^[11][10] In the scientific sense esperimento is a synonym of esperienza.^[9][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
8. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli