giovanile

Forms

giovanile m or f by sense (plural giovanili)^[1] Old Italian had giovenile, still literary, and giovinile, with northern forms such as çovenile and Latin-looking iuvenile.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin iuvenīlis (“youthful”), formed from iuvenis (“young; young man”) with -īlis, as puerīlis is from puer (“boy”).^{[4][5][6][7][1]} The GDLI calls it a learned word.^[3] The old form Old Italian giovenile keeps the Latin vowel;^[8][9] Devoto explains the standard form as the Latin word remade after giovane.^[8][9] Wiktionary instead treats it as inherited through the Old Italian form.^[1]

The Latin adjective goes back to an n-stem Proto-Indo-European *h₂iu-h₁en- (“having vital force; young”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Guittone d'Arezzo's letters in verse, before 1294: non giovenil desio, / non negrigienza, né pigrezza alcuna (“not youthful desire, not negligence, nor any laziness”).^[2][11][3] The sense is “typical of youth, of the young”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word described what belongs to the age before maturity, and also the first stage of a process.^[2] Petrarch writes of his primo giovenile errore, the error of his youth, and Leopardi of il caro tempo giovanil, youth itself.^[9][12][6] The sense “looking young in body or spirit” is dated from 1887.^[11]

In the 20th century the word came to describe what is organized by or for young people (youth clubs, a squadra giovanile of under-twenties, youth unemployment).^[13][14][5] Geology and hydrology use it for a landform in its early stage and for water of magmatic origin.^[5][9]

Timeline

• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses giovenil.^[11][2]
• 1887 – The sense “looking young” is first recorded.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of youth, typical of young people: l'entusiasmo giovanile.^[5][13][6]
2. Belonging to one's youth: le opere giovanili di Verdi.^[5][13][14]
3. youthful, looking young in body or spirit: Nonostante l'età, ha un passo giovanile.^[5][13][6]
4. Made up of or meant for young people: un torneo giovanile.^[5][13][14]
5. (geology) Of a landform in its early stage of erosion; of water or gas of magmatic origin.^[5][9]

Word family

• giovanilismo
• giovanilese
• giovanilista
• giovanilistico
• giovanilità
• giovanilmente

Related words

• giovane
• giovaneggiare
• giovanesco
• giovinezza
• gioventù
• Latin iuvenis

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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 203
9. ^ 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)
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ 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
14. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse