natura

Forms

natura f (plural nature)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin nātūra (“birth; character; the order of things”), a learned word that came in by the literary route.^[2][3][4][5] The Latin noun was formed from nātus (“born”), the past participle of nāscor (“to be born”), with the suffix -ūra.^[3][6][7][1] Devoto compares the relation of Latin statūra to status.^[8] De Vaan derives the verb, older gnāscor, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget, be born”), through a present *ǵnh₁-sk-e/o-.^[9]

The word is panromance and European in its learned form, as French nature and others.^[3] Many of the Italian words built on it came through French: natura morta from French nature morte (18th century), and naturalismo, naturalista, naturalizzare and naturismo from French terms.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Rinaldo d'Aquino, a poet of the Sicilian school who wrote before 1250, for the beings and things of the universe as governed by their own laws.^[2][6] The sense “constitution, substance” of men and things follows at the end of the 13th century in the Novellino, and “instinct, temperament” in Dante.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th and 14th centuries natura also meant the genitals, of a woman in a translation of Pietro de' Crescenzi and of a man in a version of Marco Polo.^[10][4] Scholastic philosophy gave the pair natura naturante, God as the creating principle, after Latin natura naturans, recorded in the Ottimo commentary on Dante.^[4][11]

The adjective naturale is recorded before 1294 in Brunetto Latini, and morte naturale “death by natural causes” already in Giacomo da Lentini.^[2] In the modern language natura is also the natural environment little altered by people, as in difesa della natura.^[6][12] Nature personified as a generating force is Madre Natura.^[6][12][13] In natura is used for payment in goods rather than money, and contro natura for what goes against natural law.^[11][14]

Timeline

• Before 1250 – Rinaldo d'Aquino uses natura for the created world.^[2][6]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses it for the substance of things.^[2]
• 13th century – DEI records the sense “genitals”.^[10]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini has the adjective naturale.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses natura for instinct and temperament.^[2]
• 18th century – Natura morta “still life” is modelled on French nature morte.^[2]
• 1838–1849 – Vincenzo Gioberti uses naturalismo in philosophy.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. nature: the whole of living beings, forces and phenomena of the universe, seen as having their own order and laws.^[6][11][12]
2. The natural environment, little changed by human activity: Ogni estate passiamo due settimane in mezzo alla natura.^[6][12][13]
3. (often capitalized) Nature personified as the force at work in the universe, Madre Natura.^[6][12][13]
4. The innate qualities and tendencies of humans or animals: la natura dei lupi.^[6][14]
5. A person's temperament, character: È timido per natura. Also a person of a given character.^[6][11][1]
6. The essence or kind of a thing: problemi di natura economica.^[6][13][1]
7. In natura: in kind, in goods rather than money; occurring in nature.^[11][14]
8. (art) Natura morta: a still life.^[2][1]

Word family

• naturale
• naturalezza
• naturalismo
• naturalista
• naturalizzare
• naturismo
• naturista
• snaturare
• snaturato
• connaturare
• denaturare

Related words

• nascere
• Latin nātūra
• French nature

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 692
5. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2553
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana