iniziale

Forms

iniziale (plural iniziali): an adjective with one form for both genders, and a feminine noun.^[1] The TLIO also records the spelling Old Italian innisiale.^[2]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Late Latin initiālis (“of the beginning, original”), a Late Latin adjective first found in Apuleius.^{[3][4][5][6][1]} The Latin adjective is built on initium (“beginning; entrance”) with the suffix -ālis.^[7][1] That noun comes from ineō (“to go into, enter”), from in (“into”) and eō (“to go”).^[1]

The same Latin word is the source of the learned French initial, recorded from the 13th century but rare before the 18th, and of Spanish inicial.^[3][6]

The TLIO has the Italian word in Cavalca's Specchio de' peccati, written in Pisa about 1340, and the DEI puts it in the 14th century.^[2][3] DELI and GRADIT date it only from 1749 (Riccati), and Nocentini and Devoto–Oli from the first half of the 18th century.^[8][9][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Cavalca's Specchio de' peccati (Pisa, about 1340), in the phrase timore iniziale “initial fear”, the name of one of the kinds of the fear of God, where the adjective means “marking the starting point of something”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The adjective became common only in the 18th century.^[8][4] In 1749 Riccati used it in mechanics, of the velocità iniziale “initial velocity” of a moving body, and the scientific use for the state of a system at the moment from which time is measured (condizioni iniziali, temperatura iniziale) is still one of its main senses.^[8][6][10] Later writers such as Carducci, Oriani and D'Annunzio used it of the first stage of an idea or a process.^[6]

In the field of writing, Salvini wrote of lettere iniziali in 1726, and Tommaseo–Bellini noted that the sense most used in their day was that of the letter with which a word begins.^[8][11] As a feminine noun iniziale “first letter of a word” is found from 1821–1823 in Manzoni, and the plural for the first letters of a person's first name and surname, used as a signature or monogram, from 1825 in Monti.^[8] The DEI dates the noun to the 18th century as a term of palaeography for the large capital at the head of a text, and the bibliographical sense of the decorated or illuminated opening letter of a book or chapter is still in the dictionaries.^[3][5][9] The adverb inizialmente means “at first”.^[12][10]

Timeline

• About 1340 – Cavalca's Specchio de' peccati has timore iniziale.^[2]
• 1726 – Salvini writes of lettere iniziali.^[8]
• 1749 – Riccati uses the adjective in mechanics.^[8][6]
• 1821–1823 – Manzoni uses iniziale as a noun for the first letter of a word.^[8]
• 1825 – Monti uses the plural for the initials of a name.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. initial, opening: at the beginning or forming the beginning of something: la fase iniziale del progetto.^{[9][5][12][1]}
2. Of a letter or syllable, being the first of a word: la vocale iniziale.^[9][5][10]
3. (physics, chemistry) Relating to the instant from which the quantities describing a system or phenomenon begin to be measured: velocità iniziale.^[9][5][13]
4. (botany, biology) Of plant cells that stay meristematic and give rise to new tissue: cellule iniziali.^[5][12][14]

Noun

1. The first letter of a word: un nome scritto con l'iniziale minuscola.^{[9][5][15][1]}
2. (bibliology, printing) The letter that opens a book or chapter, set apart by a different type, ornaments or illumination.^[9][5][10]
3. (usually plural) The first letters of a person's first name and surname, the initials: ha ricamato le sue iniziali sulla federa.^{[9][5][12][1]}

Word family

• inizialmente
• inizializzare

Related words

• iniziare
• inizio
• finale
• Latin initiālis
• French initial

Usage notes

The opposite of iniziale is finale.^[12][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2036
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana