Etymologically
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finire

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Pronunciation

Forms

finire (first-person singular present finìsco, first-person singular past historic finìi, past participle finìto, auxiliary avére or èssere)[1] The old form Old Italian fenire is also found.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fīniō (“to bound, limit; to finish”), from fīnis (“boundary, limit, end”).[4][5][6][1] GDLI calls it a learned word.[3] It is found in French, Occitan, Catalan, Spanish and Portuguese (French finir, Occitan finir, Catalan finir, Spanish finir, Portuguese finir), but not in Romanian.[4][7][8] A Vulgar Latin form with dissimilated vowels, Vulgar Latin *fenīre, survives in northern Italy, Lucca and Naples, and in Old French fenir, Old Occitan fenir and fenecer.[7][8] Southern Italian ⟨fernire⟩ is a blend with fornire.[7]

The origin of the Latin noun is disputed.[9] Walde and Hofmann reconstruct a form meaning “driven in”, for a boundary stone or pole, from the family of fīgō (“to fix”);[9][7] DEI too takes the starting point to be “boundary post”.[9][7] De Vaan also considers a root Proto-Indo-European *bʰiH- (“to strike”).[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Ritmo laurenziano at the end of the 12th century, in the sense “to carry out an action completely”.[10][2] Bono Giamboni, before 1292, uses it for “to bring to an end” and, intransitively, “to come to an end”: “Spesse volte spera l'avversario che la battaglia si possa avaccio finire” (often the enemy hopes the battle can be ended quickly).[10][3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to end up, land somewhere” is recorded at the end of the 13th century in the Romanzo di Tristano.[10] Niccolò del Rosso uses finire “to kill” before 1348, a 15th-century translation of Aesop has “to satisfy fully”, and Benvenuto Cellini (before 1571) “to use up”.[10] The infinitive used as a noun, il finire “the end”, is in Bartolomeo da San Concordio before 1347, also in the sense “death”.[10][11] The sense “to turn out, become” dates from Luigi Lanzi, before 1810.[10]

Many phrases describe how things end: finire in commedia “to end in farce”, finire a tarallucci e vino “to end with everyone friends again”, finire al tappeto “to be knocked down”.[12] The form finirla means “to stop it”.[5][6] From Italian, French took finiment “finish” in 1676.[7]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century – The Ritmo laurenziano has finire.[10][2]
  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for “to bring to an end” and “to come to an end”.[10]
  • Late 13th century – The Romanzo di Tristano uses finire “to end up”.[10]
  • Before 1347 – Bartolomeo da San Concordio uses il finire “the end”.[10]
  • Before 1348 – Niccolò del Rosso uses finire “to kill”.[10]
  • Before 1571 – Benvenuto Cellini uses finire “to use up”.[10]
  • Before 1810 – Luigi Lanzi uses finire “to turn out”.[10]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive) To finish, bring to an end: Devo finire la relazione entro venerdì.[12][5][6]
  2. (transitive, with di and an infinitive) To stop doing something: Finisci di lamentarti!; also finirla, to stop it.[12][5][6]
  3. (transitive) To use up, exhaust: Hanno già finito tutte le scorte d'acqua.[12][5][6]
  4. (transitive) To kill, finish off, especially someone already wounded.[12][5][6]
  5. (intransitive, auxiliary essere) To come to an end: Le lezioni finiscono a giugno.[6][1]
  6. (intransitive) To end up somewhere or in some state: La palla è finita nel fiume.; with per and an infinitive, to end up doing something.[1][6]

Noun

  1. il finire, the end, the close: sul finire dell'estate.[12][11]

Word family

  • finito
  • finimento
  • finitura
  • finitore
  • rifinire
  • sfinire

Usage notes

Finire is conjugated with -isc- in the present (finisco, finisci).[5][6][1] It takes avere when transitive and essere when it means “to come to an end”; with an impersonal verb both are used (ha or è finito di grandinare).[1][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 5, 1042
  4. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  7. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1647
  8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  11. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  12. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET