nove

Forms

nove (invariable)^[1] Old Sienese had nuove in the 13th century, and the form is still found in Boiardo.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin novem (“nine”).^[4][5][6][1] The same word is French neuf, Occitan nou, Catalan nou, Spanish nueve, Portuguese nove, Sardinian noe, Romansh nuf, Friulian nuf and Romanian nouă; Dalmatian nu was its Dalmatian form.^[5][7]

Latin novem goes back to Proto-Italic *nown̥ and Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥ (“nine”).^[1][8] Like all the basic numerals it belongs to the common Indo-European vocabulary: Ancient Greek ἐννέα (ennéa), Sanskrit नव (náva), Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌿𐌽 (niun), Old High German niun and Old English nigon, the source of English nine.^[5][1] The final ⟨-m⟩ replaced an older ⟨-n⟩ after decem (“ten”) and septem (“seven”), while the original form survives in nōnus (“ninth”).^[9][1][10]

In Italian the stressed open /ɔ/ of an open syllable normally became the diphthong /wɔ/, as in nuovo from novus, but here it did not.^[4][11] DELI finds the reason unclear and suggests, with Devoto and Sabatini–Coletti, that the word avoided falling together with nuove, the feminine plural of that adjective.^[4][10][11] The diphthongised form did exist in Old Sienese.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Florentine account book of 1211, with the number nine.^[4][6][12] Giacomo da Lentini has ’nfine che compie anni nove “until nine years are complete”, and Bono Giamboni counts the sin of gluttony as committed “in nine ways”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Nine had a special place in religious, cabbalistic and philosophical symbolism as the square of three, the perfect number: Dante speaks of nine orders of contemplative spirits in the Convivio.^[3] The nine Muses were called le nove sorelle, and tre e nove volte was an emphatic “again and again”.^[13]

The compound novecento “nine hundred” replaced Latin nongenti: novicento occurs in 1296, novecento before 1451.^[4][2] In 1817 Pietro Giordani used il novecento for the 20th century, and novecentista (1826), novecentismo (1936) and novecentesco (1954) followed.^[4]

Modern uses include the school mark nove, just below the top, the nine of a suit of cards, the ninth day of a month, and the prova del nove, the arithmetic check of casting out nines and, figuratively, a decisive proof.^[6][14][15] In baseball slang il nove is a team, which has nine players, and in football the number nine is the centre forward.^[6][14] English slang of the mid-19th century took nobba “nine” from Italian.^[12]

Timeline

• 1211 – A Florentine account book has nove.^[4]
• 13th century – Old Sienese has the diphthongised nuove.^[2]
• 1296 – The compound novicento is recorded.^[4]
• Before 1451 – Novecento appears in Giovanni di Cino.^[4]
• 1817 – Pietro Giordani uses novecento for the 20th century.^[4]
• 1826 – Novecentista is recorded.^[4]
• Mid-19th century – English slang nobba is recorded.^[12]
• 1936 – Benedetto Croce has novecentismo.^[4]

Meanings

Numeral

1. nine, the number that is one more than eight: Il viaggio è durato nove giorni.^[6][14][16]
2. After a noun, with ordinal value: ninth: Leggete il capitolo nove.^[6][14]

Noun

1. The number nine, and the figure 9.^[6][11]
2. The ninth day of a month; the ninth year of a century.^[6][14]
3. A school mark one point below the highest: Ha preso nove nel compito di storia.^[6][14][16]
4. The nine of a suit of playing cards.^[6][14]
5. (sports, slang) A baseball team, which has nine players.^[6][16]

Word family

• novecento
• novecentesco
• novecentismo
• novecentista
• novecentistico

Related words

• novena
• novennio
• novenne
• Latin novem

Usage notes

Prova del nove is a set phrase: literally the arithmetic check by casting out nines, figuratively the proof that confirms a supposition.^[14][15][16] With le and an implied ore, le nove means nine o'clock.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2605
3. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
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. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana