essere

Forms

essere (first-person singular present sóno, first-person singular past historic fùi, past participle stàto, first-person singular imperfect èro, first-person singular future sarò, first-person singular subjunctive sìa, first-person singular imperfect subjunctive fóssi, second-person singular imperative sìi, auxiliary èssere)^[1] Old and literary forms include the present semo “we are” and ènno “they are”, the future fia, the conditional fora and the past participles essuto and suto.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sum (“to be”), through the Vulgar Latin infinitive ⟨*essere⟩, which took the place of classical ⟨esse⟩.^[5][6][7][1] The infinitive ⟨essere⟩ is already written in Early Medieval Latin.^[1] Devoto explains the new form as a shift of the verb from the athematic conjugation, in which ⟨-se⟩ was added directly to the root ⟨es-⟩, to the thematic type, as if it were a verb of the third conjugation.^[8]

The verb is panromance: Sardinian èssere, French être, Occitan ésser, Catalan ésser, Spanish ser and Portuguese ser continue it, while the infinitive Romanian fi comes from Latin fierī (“to become”).^[6][4][9] The Romance languages also kept the Latin mixture of two stems in one paradigm: the present (Italian “è” from Latin ⟨est⟩) belongs to the durative root Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be”), the past historic (“fu” from ⟨fuit⟩) to the momentary root Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to grow, become”).^[6][1] The past participle “stato” was taken from stare, from Latin stātus.^[6][1]

The Latin verb has cognates across Indo-European: Ancient Greek ἐστί (estí), Sanskrit अस्ति (ásti), Hittite ešzi, Gothic 𐌹𐍃𐍄 (ist) and Lithuanian ẽsti all mean “is”.^[6][10][3] De Vaan reconstructs a Proto-Indo-European present ⟨*h₁es-⟩ / ⟨*h₁s-⟩, which accounts for the alternation in Latin ⟨est⟩ “is” and ⟨sunt⟩ “they are”, continued in Italian “è” and “sono”.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Umbrian confession formula of 1037–1089, where the verb already expresses being, appearing and happening.^[5][7] The noun essere “existence, life, condition, nature” follows before 1257 in Bonagiunta Orbicciani.^[5][7]

Semantic evolution

As a noun the infinitive took on the philosophical sense “being, what exists”, which Dante already uses: in Paradiso 24 the deep things of heaven are hidden from human eyes, che l'esser lor v'è in sola credenza (“so that their being is there in belief alone”).^[12] DEI dates the sense “condition of life” to Petrarch and “existence, way of life” to the 16th century,^[13] and the sense “a living thing, creature” appears in Daniello Bartoli in 1650.^[5] Compounds with adverbs followed: benessere “well-being” (15th century) and malessere, first “restlessness” (17th century) and then “physical indisposition” (1827).^[6][14]

The phrase essere al verde “to be penniless” comes from auctions held by candlelight: the bottom of the candle was dyed green, and when the flame reached the green the bidding ended.^[15] Anton Francesco Doni wrote in 1553 chè la candela è al verde (“for the candle is down to the green”).^[15]

Timeline

• 1037–1089 – The verb is recorded in an Umbrian confession formula.^[5][7]
• Before 1257 – Bonagiunta Orbicciani uses essere as a noun, “existence, condition”.^[5][7]
• Before 1300 – Guido Cavalcanti uses the learned derivative essenza “essence”.^[5]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses essenziale.^[5]
• 1553 – Anton Francesco Doni writes of the candle being al verde.^[15]
• 1650 – Daniello Bartoli uses essere for “a living being, creature”.^[5]
• 1827 – Malessere is recorded in the sense “physical indisposition”.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To exist, to have reality: penso, dunque sono (“I think, therefore I am”, Descartes).^[7][16][3]
2. To be, as a copula joining the subject to a noun or adjective that describes it.^[7][1]
3. To be present or located somewhere, to be in a state or situation; with ci or vi (esserci, esservi): there to be.^[16][17][1]
4. To happen, to take place.^[17][1]
5. With di: to belong to, to come from, to be on someone's side.^[17]
6. (colloquial) To cost, weigh or measure a certain amount.^[17][1]
7. (auxiliary) Forms the passive of all verbs and the compound tenses of reflexive, pronominal and impersonal verbs and of many intransitive verbs.^[7][2][1]

Noun

1. (philosophy) being: the condition of what exists or can exist, opposed to nothing and to becoming.^[7][16][17]
2. Nature, essence; one's inner self.^[7][17]
3. A living thing, creature: l'essere umano, the human being.^[7][16]
4. (often derogatory) A person, an individual.^[7][16][17]

Word family

• benessere
• malessere
• esserci
• esservi
• essendoché
• essente
• riessere
• preessere
• esserino

Related words

• essenza
• futuro
• essenziale
• stato
• stare
• Latin sum
• French être

Usage notes

The past participle stato is shared with stare, so sono stato means both “I have been” and “I have stayed”.^[6][1] The infinitive used as a noun has a plural, esseri “beings”.^[1][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
4. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 170
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 5, 424
13. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1546
14. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
15. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 409
16. ^ 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
17. ^ a b c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse