Etymologically
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novità

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Pronunciation

Forms

novità f (invariable)[1] Older forms are Old Italian novitade and Old Italian novitate, and also Old Italian nuovità.[2][1][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin novitās (“newness, novelty”), from novus (“new”).[4][5][6][7] The older forms Old Italian novitade and novitate continue the Latin accusative novitātem, and the modern word is their shortened form.[1][8] The same learned word is Spanish novedad.[5]

The Latin noun is formed from novus with the suffix -tās, and Wiktionary suggests that it may be as old as Proto-Indo-European *néwoteh₂ts.[1] The inherited Italian word from the same base is nuovo.[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is a document of 1291, followed by Bono Giamboni before 1292, with the sense “something new, newly invented or introduced; something that happens anew”.[4] The Zingarelli dates the word to 1282.[9]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses novitate and novità for newness and for strange new things: in the Paradiso “the novelty of the sound and the great light” (la novità del suono e 'l grande lume) make him eager to know their cause, and in the Purgatorio his eyes are “eager to see novelties”.[2][3] From the 14th century the word also meant news, the events of the day: Matteo Villani writes the histories and novità of his own times.[3]

The sense “strangeness, oddity” is now literary.[8][9] In older and literary use novità also meant political change, and even revolt or sedition, as in Nievo's phrase about a city “reluctant to make novità”;[9][10] far novità contro qualcuno meant to oppose someone.[9][10] Modern Italian uses it above all for news (ci sono novità?) and for new products presented to the public, in publishing, music and fashion.[6][11][12]

Timeline

  • 1291 – Novità is first recorded in a document.[4]
  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it.[4]
  • 1304–1307 – Dante writes novitate in the Convivio.[2]
  • 14th century – Giovanni and Matteo Villani use the word for current events.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. newness, originality: the quality of being new or recent: la novità di un'idea.[6][11][8]
  2. A change or innovation in some field: Il nuovo direttore ha portato molte novità.[6][11][12]
  3. A new product or work presented to the public for the first time: le novità della fiera del libro.[6][11][9]
  4. news: information about recent events: Hai saputo la novità?[6][11][8]
  5. (literary) Strangeness, oddity.[6][8][9]
  6. (literary, dated) Revolt, uprising.[9][10]

Usage notes

Novità is invariable: una novità, le novità.[1][6] Che novità è questa? expresses surprise and displeasure at something unusual;[6][11][1] Novità?, “what's new?”, is a common greeting.[6][11][1] Non è una novità is said of something already well known.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  3. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  4. ^ 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
  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. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2607
  8. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  10. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  11. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana