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giovinezza

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word giovinezza

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1268 Andrea da Grosseto More words from the 13th century
Ultimate origin
Latin iuvenis

Pronunciation

  • /d͡ʒo.viˈnet.t͡sa/[1]

Forms

giovinezza f (plural giovinezze)[1] The old and poetic form is giovanezza.[2][3][1] Old texts also have Old Italian giovenezza, Old Italian iovanezza, and northern Old Italian zoveneza.[4]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian giovine + -ezza, from the literary form of giovane (“young”).[5][3][6][1][4] The adjective continues Latin iuvenis (“young”), through a spoken form with ⟨o⟩.[7][8]

Körting set up Vulgar Latin *juvenitia for the abstract noun, the same formation as French jeunesse, and Meyer-Lübke lists the Italian and French words together among the derivatives of the Latin adjective.[9][10] Wiktionary thinks a Vulgar Latin source less likely than a formation within Italian.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Andrea da Grosseto in 1268 (Tuscan), in the sense “the period of life after adolescence and before adulthood”.[4] DELI cites the forms giovanezza and giovenezza in the Novellino at the end of the 13th century, and Dante's definition in the Convivio (1304–1308): giovinezza è colmo de la naturale vita, “youth is the height of natural life”.[7][11]

Semantic evolution

Already in Old Italian the word could mean the young people themselves and the early growth of an animal or a plant.[4] The sense “state of what is young” is in a 14th-century Italian version of Seneca, and Dante also uses it for all that belongs to youth.[7] Lorenzo de' Medici's carnival song begins Quant'è bella giovinezza, / che si fugge tuttavia! (How fair is youth, which yet flies away!).[11]

For centuries giovanezza and giovinezza lived side by side.[12] Francesco Redi rejected the claim of some grammarians that giovinezza belonged only to modern writing and giovanezza to the old.[12] Today giovanezza is old or poetic.[2][3] In geology the word names the first stage of the cycle of river erosion.[5]

Timeline

  • 1268 – Andrea da Grosseto has the TLIO's first record.[4]
  • 1287 – The Zingarelli dictionary's date for giovinezza.[13]
  • End of the 13th century – Giovanezza and giovenezza in the Novellino.[7]
  • 1304–1308 – Dante's Convivio defines giovinezza.[7]
  • 14th century – The sense “state of what is young” in an Italian Seneca.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. youth, the age between adolescence and maturity: gli anni della giovinezza.[5][3][14]
  2. The fact of being young: la giovinezza dei candidati.[5][15]
  3. (figurative) The early stage of something newly formed: la giovinezza di una nazione.[5][3][14]
  4. (figurative) Freshness and vigour: una mente piena di giovinezza.[5][3][14]
  5. (geology) The first stage of the cycle of river erosion.[5]

Usage notes

Seconda giovinezza, “second youth”, is a time of renewed energy in someone no longer young.[3][13] The synonym is gioventù.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  5. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  11. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 835
  12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  13. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  14. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
Cite this entry

“Giovinezza.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/it/giovinezza. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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