novanta

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *nonanta, the spoken form of Latin nōnāgintā (“ninety”), remade after nove.^[2][3][4][5] DELI speaks of the Italian numeral laid over the Latin word,^[6] Wiktionary gives the Vulgar Latin form as *nōvāgintā, blended with novem (“nine”),^[1] and GRADIT a Latin *novanta, with dissimilation and the influence of the Italian numeral.^[7] Devoto explains the loss of the ⟨-g-⟩ in *nonanta as a complete weakening before a front vowel.^[8] DEI gives a popular *nonainta.^[9]

The form without ⟨-v-⟩ lives on in French nonante (dialectal), Occitan nonanta, Friulian nonante and Romansh nonanta, and with ⟨-r-⟩ in Catalan noranta and Sardinian noranta; Spanish noventa and Portuguese noventa have ⟨-v-⟩ as Italian does.^[2][10] Nocentini puts the ⟨-r-⟩ of Catalan and Sardinian down to the dissimilation of the nasals.^[2]

Latin nōnāgintā is formed from nōnus (“ninth”) with the element -gintā (“tens”), so “the ninth ten”.^[2][11] Wiktionary traces it to an earlier *nūnāgintā and Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥dḱomt (“nine tens”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥ (“nine”).^[1][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Florentine Libro di tutela of the Riccomanni family (1273), in the number novanta sette, ninety-seven.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The Vite dei Santi Padri tell of a hermit who avendo già novant'anni (being already ninety years old) ate no cooked food.^[13] From early on the number was also used loosely for a large quantity, as in novanta volte “ninety times”, that is, very often.^[13][7] The ordinal novantesimo dates from the 14th century, novantenne “ninety years old” and novantina “about ninety” from 1869, and novantennio from 1925.^[6][2]

In the lottery dream books (smorfia) ninety, the highest number, stands for fear, hence the joking la paura fa novanta.^[14][4][15] In popular speech a pezzo da novanta is a powerful Mafia boss and, more widely, a very influential person.^[14][3]

Timeline

• 1273 – Novanta sette appears in the Riccomanni Libro di tutela.^[6]
• 14th century – Novantesimo “ninetieth” is recorded.^[6][2]
• 1869 – Novantenne and novantina are recorded.^[6][2]
• 1925 – Novantennio appears in the Zingarelli dictionary.^[6]

Meanings

Numeral

1. ninety: nine times ten (90, XC): Il viaggio dura novanta minuti.^[7][3][16]
2. (hyperbolic) A great many: Gliel'ho chiesto novanta volte.^[7][3][16]
3. After a noun, with the value of an ordinal, ninetieth: capitolo novanta.^[7][3]

Noun

1. The number ninety and the sign for it.^[7][3]
2. The year 90 of a century;^[7][3][15] gli anni Novanta, the 1990s or the nineties of another century.^[7][3][15]

Word family

• novantesimo
• novantenne
• novantennio
• novantina

Related words

• nove
• nono
• nonagenario
• nonagesimo
• Latin nōnāgintā

Usage notes

The word is invariable.^[16][14] Old texts also have Old Italian nonanta,^[17] the form still used in Venetian, Mantuan and Emilian dialect, as in Venetian nonanta.^[10][17] Novanta drops its final vowel before anni: novant'anni.^[16] Pezzo da novanta and la paura fa novanta are set phrases.^[7][14]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2605
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
17. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti