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incontro

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Italian has two words spelled incontro: the noun “meeting”, formed in Italian from the verb incontrare, and the adverb “towards”, inherited from Latin.[1][2][3]

incontro1 meeting, encounter

Pronunciation

  • /inˈkon.tro/[4]

Forms

incontro m (plural incontri)[4]

Etymology

The noun is formed from the verb incontrare, without a suffix.[1][3][2][4] The verb, recorded as Old Italian emcontrare in the late 12th century, is inherited from Late Latin incontrāre, found in the Itala about the 3rd century and made from the adverb incontrā (the adverb below).[1][3] The same verb is Old French encontrer (modern French rencontrer), Occitan encontrar, Catalan encontrar, Spanish encontrar and Portuguese encontrar.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI and GRADIT date the noun to Pietro Bembo (1530).[1][2] In a poem Bembo writes that at the first meeting with the lady (al primo incontro vostro) a thought arises that makes a coarse soul noble.[1][6]

Semantic evolution

Luigi Alamanni had buono incontro in 1548, and Salvini buono e cattivo incontro in 1726;[1] fare un brutto incontro, to run into criminals on one's way, is recorded in 1957.[1] The sense “favour, success with the public” is found in Giuseppe Baretti (1764), “meeting, conference” in Giuseppe Mazzini (before 1872), and “sports match” in 1921.[1] An older sense, a clash of arms or between two duellists, is recorded before 1533 and is now uncommon.[7][8]

German took Incontro as a fencing term for a double hit of which only one counts.[7]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century – The verb appears as emcontrare in the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio.[1]
  • 1530 – Pietro Bembo uses the noun incontro.[1][2]
  • Before 1533 – It is used for a clash between duellists.[7]
  • 1764 – Giuseppe Baretti uses it for favour or success.[1]
  • Before 1872 – Mazzini uses it for a meeting or conference.[1]
  • 1921 – It is used for a sports match.[1]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A meeting or encounter, especially a chance one: È stato un incontro inatteso, dopo tanti anni.[2][8][9]
  2. An appointment; a meeting or conference: un incontro al vertice (a summit).[2][8][10]
  3. (sport) A match or bout: un incontro di scherma.[2][8][9]
  4. (uncommon) An armed clash.[2][8]
  5. The point where two roads or rivers meet, (geometry) punto d'incontro, the point common to two figures, (figurative) a compromise.[2][8][11]
  6. (uncommon) Favour, success with the public: un genere che ha poco incontro.[2][8][10]

incontro2 towards

Pronunciation

  • /inˈkon.tro/[4]

Forms

incontro (invariable; old and poetic incontra)[4][12][11]

Etymology

The adverb is inherited from Late Latin incontrā (“opposite, against”), made of in with intensive force and Latin contrā (“against”).[1][3][2][4] DELI dates the Latin word to the 4th century, in the veterinary writer Chiron, but notes that Väänänen counts it among the fused invariable words of the Pompeian inscriptions, so it must have been in popular use earlier;[1][3] Nocentini places it in those inscriptions of the 1st century AD.[1][3] The same word is French encontre, Occitan encontra, Catalan encontra and Spanish encontra.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI and GRADIT date incontro a “towards” to Dante (1313–1319).[1][2] Bono Giamboni (before 1292) already writes of Philosophy that she rose and came towards Faith: “scese della sedia, e vennele incontro” (she came down from her seat and came to meet her).[6]

Semantic evolution

In 1525 Bembo noted that contro and contra were also said incontro and incontra, but that the last form belonged only to the poets.[1] Old Italian could attach pronouns to it, as in Boccaccio's incontrogli “towards him”.[12] Besides direction it meant “opposite” and “against”, now literary uses, and all'incontro meant “on the contrary”.[2][12][10] The figurative phrases andare incontro a “to face, to run into” and venire incontro a qualcuno “to help, to meet someone halfway” are common today.[8][12]

Timeline

  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses venire incontro.[6]
  • 1313–1319 – Dante uses incontro a “towards”.[1][2]
  • 1525 – Bembo comments on incontro and incontra.[1]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. incontro a (or with a dative pronoun): towards, with verbs of motion: Il cane mi è corso incontro scodinzolando.[2][8][12][4]
  2. (figurative) andare incontro a: to face, to meet with, venire incontro a qualcuno: to help, to meet someone halfway, venirsi incontro: to reach a compromise.[8][12][11]
  3. (literary, rare) opposite, facing: La farmacia è lì incontro.[2][8][11]
  4. (literary, archaic) Against.[2][8][10]
  5. all'incontro: on the contrary.[10][12][11]
  6. (boxing) d'incontro: as a counterpunch, struck as the opponent attacks.[8][10]

Usage notes

The GDLI also has a minor technical word incontro in geometry, the incenter of a triangle, formed from in- (of inscritto) and centro.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  6. ^ 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. 7, 734
  7. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  10. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  11. ^ a b c d e Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 7, 653