impresa

Forms

impresa f (plural imprese)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian imprendere (“to undertake”): the feminine of its past participle impreso, used as a noun.^[2][3][4][5] The verb continues Vulgar Latin *imprehendere, formed with Latin in- (“in, upon”) on prehendō (“to grasp, seize”), that is “to take upon oneself”.^[2][6][7] Nocentini sets up a Vulgar Latin noun *imprensa for the Romance words, and the same formation is Old French emprise, Old Occitan empreza, Spanish empresa and Portuguese empresa.^[6][7]

The sense “emblem with a motto” came from Spain: DELI takes it through the Spanish word, or rather, following Coluccia, through Catalan empresa, which took hold at Naples under the Aragonese at the end of the 15th century and spread into the national language in the 16th.^[2] DEI, Sabatini–Coletti and Gabrielli give this sense an entry of its own, DEI linking it with the French expedition of Louis XII and with French devise.^[8][9][10] The GDLI explains the heraldic sense by the resolve that the motto alludes to.^[11]

The Latin verb goes back to a Proto-Italic compound of *prai “before” and a verb “to seize”, from a nasal present Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to grab”), with a cognate in Ancient Greek χανδάνω (khandánō, “to hold, contain”).^[12][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Guido Guinizelli, who died before 1276, in the sense of a work or action that one begins or means to carry out.^[2] GRADIT dates this sense, which it lists as now uncommon, to the same years.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Nocentini notes that the word first meant a bold or even reckless action.^[6] Petrarch (1374) uses it for a difficult and important undertaking whose outcome is uncertain, and the plural came to mean heroic deeds, above all in war.^[2][3] Dante's consumai la ’mpresa (“I used up the undertaking” in thought, Inferno 2) is the classic early example, and Varchi glossed the word as the Tuscan for Latin inceptum, anything one takes in hand.^[13]

The economic sense, an organisation that combines work and means of production for profit, appears in 1644, in Cantini, and Nocentini places it in the 17th century.^[2][6] In the 16th century impresa also named a device: a token a knight received from his lady, then a figure with a motto, painted on a shield or embroidered on clothing, whose meaning words and picture explained together;^[2][11][10] Paolo Giovio's dialogue on the mottoes “which are commonly called imprese” appeared at Venice in 1560.^[2][11][10]

The derivative impresario (1714, P. I. Martello, of the contractors who ran opera seasons) spread from Italian into the main European languages as the word for a theatre manager.^[2][6] English borrowed impresa “heraldic device” in 1589, and French had imprese from 1562;^[14] German used Impresa for a project around 1600.^[14] Polish impreza is a later loan from Italian.^[1]

Timeline

• Before 1276 – Guido Guinizelli uses impresa for something one sets out to do.^[2]
• 1374 – Petrarch uses the word for a difficult undertaking of doubtful outcome.^[2]
• 1560 – Paolo Giovio's dialogue on the mottoes called imprese is printed at Venice.^[2]
• 1562 – French imprese “emblem” is recorded.^[14]
• 1589 – English impresa “heraldic device” is first recorded.^[14]
• 1644 – Cantini uses impresa for an economic enterprise.^[2]
• 1714 – The derivative impresario is recorded in P. I. Martello.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An undertaking or enterprise: an important and difficult action that calls for effort and involves risk: Attraversare il deserto a piedi fu un'impresa temeraria.^[3][4][9]
2. (colloquial) Something very hard to do: Trovare parcheggio in centro il sabato è un'impresa.^[3][4]
3. Especially in the plural, a heroic feat or exploit, especially a military one.^[3][4][15]
4. (economics) A business, firm or company; economic activity organised to produce and exchange goods or services: un'impresa di traslochi.^[3][4][9]
5. The taking on of a job or contract.^[3][10]
6. (dated) What one begins, or intends, to do.^[3][5][16]
7. (history, heraldry) A device: a figure with a motto, explaining each other, borne on a shield or garment, or the token a knight received from his lady.^[9][10][11]

Word family

• impresario
• imprenditore

Related words

• imprendere
• intraprendere
• prendere
• Spanish empresa

Usage notes

The exclamation è un'impresa! means that something is very hard to do, and the proverb è più la spesa che l'impresa (“the cost is greater than the undertaking”) is said when the gain does not repay the effort.^[15][16] Many legal and economic phrases use the word: impresa familiare, impresa pubblica, reddito d'impresa, registro delle imprese.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1967
9. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b c d e Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
11. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 7, 515
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli