necessitare

Forms

necessitare (first-person singular present necèssito, first-person singular past historic necessitài, past participle necessitàto, auxiliary (intransitive) èssere or (transitive) avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian necessità + -are, a verb made from the noun.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The noun is learned, from Latin necessitās, formed from necesse (“necessary”).^[3]

The verb already existed in Medieval Latin: the GDLI and the DEI note Medieval Latin necessitare in the 11th century, in the Latin of Venice.^[7][8] Venetian has a form without the ⟨-it-⟩ of the noun, Venetian necessare.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI dates the transitive sense “to make necessary” to the 14th century, in the Ottimo commentary on Dante.^[10] Its comment on Inferno 7 says that the heavens must keep turning and exert their influence, ma non ch'egli necessiti, “but not that it compels”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In the old texts the verb meant chiefly “to force, compel”, often in the debate on the stars and free will: Buti writes noi siamo incitati, ma non necessitati, “we are urged, but not compelled”.^[9][7] Guicciardini and Galileo use it for being forced to do something.^[11][12] From this comes the philosophical sense “to determine”.^[2][4][11]

The intransitive sense “to be necessary” is recorded only in 1889, and Nocentini dates the verb as a whole to the 19th century.^[10][3] Today the commonest uses are necessitare di “to need” and the impersonal necessita che “it is necessary that”.^[2][5][12]

Timeline

• 11th century – Medieval Latin necessitare is used in Venice.^[8][7]
• 14th century – The Ottimo commentary on Dante uses necessitare.^[10][9]
• 1889 – The intransitive sense “to be necessary” is recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To make necessary, require: Il guasto necessita un intervento rapido.^[2][4][5][1]
2. (transitive, uncommon) To force or oblige someone to do something (with a).^{[2][5][13][11]}
3. (transitive, philosophy) To determine.^[2][4][14]
4. (intransitive) To need, with di: Il giardino necessita di acqua.^[2][4][5][1]
5. (intransitive) To be necessary; also impersonal, necessita che “it is necessary that”.^{[2][4][12][1]}

Word family

• necessitante
• necessitato
• necessitazione

Related words

• necessità
• necessitismo
• necessitoso
• necessario
• Latin necessitās

Usage notes

In the intransitive senses the auxiliary is essere, but the compound tenses are not used.^[14][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 294
7. ^ 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. 11, 296
8. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2560
9. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ 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)
12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana