Etymologically
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natura

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Pronunciation

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

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