Etymologically
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iniziare

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Pronunciation

  • /i.nitˈt͡sja.re/[1]

Forms

iniziare (first-person singular present inìzio, first-person singular past historic iniziài, past participle iniziàto, auxiliary (transitive) avére or (intransitive) èssere)[1] Old forms include Old Italian iniciare.[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin initiō (“to initiate into the mysteries; begin”), a learned word, a verb formed from initium (“beginning”).[4][5][1][2] Devoto–Oli derives it instead from inizio.[6] The Latin verb first meant admitting someone to religious mysteries, and only later to begin in general.[4][7]

The noun initium comes from ineō (“to go into; begin”), formed from in- (“in”) and eō (“to go”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”).[4][8][1]

The Latin verb also lives on in the dialects, with the sense of incignare, to cut into or start using something: Lombard insà, Ligurian insà and Piedmontese ensà are among the forms Meyer-Lübke lists, and DELI notes that the sense is not unknown in Late Latin.[9][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dante's Convivio (1304–1307), for starting something.[2][4][5] Dante compares a blameworthy thing to someone sent to settle a quarrel who “prima che partisse quella, ne iniziasse un'altra” (started another before settling that one).[3]

Semantic evolution

The intransitive use “to begin, have a beginning” is also in Dante, as a pronominal verb: “Pensa, lettor, se quel che qui s'inizia / non procedesse” (think, reader, if what begins here did not go on).[4] The sense “to admit to the rites of a cult” appears in the 14th century in an Italian translation of Livy, and Tommaseo in 1869 still called it the usual sense in classical Latin and in Italian.[4][2] The sense “to teach someone the first elements of an art” is in Melchiorre Cesarotti before 1808.[4]

The intransitive use without si, as in le lezioni iniziano alle 8, was spreading in 1950, when Migliorini called it improper.[4] The purist Rigutini thought the verb should have stayed in the language of the Eleusinian mysteries.[3] Iniziativa was taken from French initiative in 1790 and criticized by Tommaseo in 1869, and iniziatico is recorded in 1869.[4][8]

Timeline

  • 1304–1307 – Dante uses iniziare in the Convivio.[2]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses s'inizia for “begins”.[4]
  • 14th century – A translation of Livy uses it for initiation into a cult.[4]
  • 1745 – Iniziazione is recorded.[8]
  • 1790 – Iniziativa is recorded.[4]
  • Before 1808 – Melchiorre Cesarotti uses it for introducing someone to an art.[4]
  • 1950 – Migliorini notes the spread of the intransitive use.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive) To begin, start, set about: Abbiamo iniziato i lavori in cucina.[5][6][10]
  2. (intransitive, with essere) To have its beginning: La partita inizia alle otto.[5][6][10]
  3. To begin to do something (with a and an infinitive): Ha iniziato a nevicare.[5][6][10]
  4. To initiate, admit someone to the rites of a cult or to a secret society.[5][6][10][2]
  5. To introduce someone to an art, a profession or a discipline: Il nonno lo iniziò alla pesca.[5][6][10]

Word family

  • iniziativa
  • iniziato
  • iniziatore
  • iniziazione
  • iniziatico

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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, p. 8
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  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. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse