essenza

Forms

essenza f (plural essenze)^[1] The older form essenzia is marked archaic by the modern dictionaries.^[2][3][4] Old Italian texts also wrote it essença, esencia, exencia and essensa, among other spellings.^[5]

Etymology

It is a learned word: it is borrowed from Latin essentia (“essence, being”).^{[6][7][8][9][1]} The Latin word was built on esse (“to be”) as a philosophical term translating Ancient Greek οὐσία (ousía).^{[8][10][3][11][1]} Seneca ascribes the coinage to Cicero, while Quintilian, who disliked the word, credits it to the philosopher Plautus or to the rhetorician Verginius Flavus.^[11][9] It was formed as if from a present participle of that verb, on the model of sapientia, absentia and praesentia.^[12][1]

The chemical sense, a fragrant substance extracted from plants, came through the Latin of the alchemists.^[10][3] The sense “petrol” in sport, recorded in the 20th century, is a calque of French essence.^[9] The same Latin word lies behind the derivatives essenziale and quintessenza.^[1][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the poems of Ubertino del Bianco d'Arezzo, before 1269, in Tuscan.^[5] The early sense is the nature proper to a being, what necessarily belongs to it, the philosophical sense still first in the dictionaries.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word was a term of philosophy and theology: divina essenza and somma essenza named God, and with reference to the Trinity it meant “substance”.^[5] Guido Cavalcanti uses it in a poem on love, and Dante in the Convivio.^[6][14] It also meant the fact of existing, and a person's way of being or condition.^[5] By extension it came to mean the most important part of anything, the core of a question or a doctrine.^[8][3]

The concrete sense, a volatile scented substance taken from plants and used in medicine and perfumery, is recorded as essenzia before 1535 in Berni.^[6] In forestry and the timber trade essenza names a species of tree or shrub, and the wood it gives.^[8][10][12]

Timeline

• Before 1269 – Ubertino del Bianco d'Arezzo uses essenza, the first record.^[5]
• Before 1300 – Guido Cavalcanti uses the word for the nature of a thing.^[6]
• 14th century – the derivative essenziale is recorded.^[9]
• Before 1535 – Berni uses essenzia for a scented extract.^[6]
• 17th century – the chemical sense becomes current.^[9]
• 20th century – essenza “petrol” appears in sport, after French.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (philosophy) essence: what a thing is by its nature, without which it would not be what it is.^[8][2][12]
2. The most important part of something, its core or gist: Ha colto l'essenza della sua teoria in poche righe.^[8][10][3]
3. (chemistry) An essential oil or other volatile scented substance extracted from plants, used in perfumery, medicine and cooking.^[8][10][15]
4. (forestry) A species of tree or shrub, and the wood obtained from it.^[8][10][1]

Word family

• essenziale
• quintessenza
• coessenza
• essenziero

Related words

• essere
• assenza
• Latin essentia
• French essence

Usage notes

In essenza means “in substance, essentially”.^[16][8] Old Italian also had an essenza meaning “absence”, a variant of assenza with the prefix changed, used by Sercambi.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
4. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
5. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1546
10. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 21, 813
14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
15. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
16. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 5, 413