notevole

Forms

notevole m or f by sense (plural notevoli, superlative notevolissimo)^[1] Early variants include Old Italian notevile and notivole.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian notare + -evole, from the verb meaning “to note”.^{[3][4][5][6][1]} Zingarelli gives it the same origin as notabile, which is Latin notābilis.^[7][3]

The verb is learned, from notō (“to mark; to point out”), itself derived from nota (“sign, mark”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Dante, 1304–1308, with the sense “worthy of note”.^[9][3] Tommaseo quotes the Convivio: perchè più notevole sia la loro infamia (“so that their infamy may be more notable”).^[10]

Semantic evolution

In early prose the word marked things that deserved to be remembered: Compagni chose to write about events però che furon cose notevoli (“because they were notable things”).^[2] Tommaseo, in the 19th century, still found notabile more usual, and wondered whether notevole had first leaned to bad things and notabile to praise.^[10]

Today notevole is the common word, and it often means large in size, amount or degree rather than worthy of notice.^[6][3] In mathematics prodotti notevoli are the formulas for factoring certain polynomials.^[4][11] The adverb is notevolmente.^[1][7]

Timeline

• 1304–1308 – Dante uses notevole.^[9][3]
• Before 1313 – GRADIT's date for notabile.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Worthy of note, remarkable: una scoperta notevole.^[3][12][7]
2. considerable, large in amount or degree: ha speso una cifra notevole.^[3][12][4]
3. Large in size: una torre di notevole altezza.^[3][6]
4. Of a person, deserving esteem for their qualities: una scrittrice notevole.^[3][12]
5. (mathematics) prodotti notevoli: the formulas for the powers of binomials and the factoring of certain polynomials.^[4][11]

Word family

• notevolmente

Related words

• notare
• notabile
• nota
• Latin notabilis

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 11, 577
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
6. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
7. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier