Etymologically
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essere

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈɛs.se.re/[1]

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

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