operazione

Forms

operazione f (plural operazioni)^[1] Old variants are operagione, from Tuscany, and operasione, from the area of Pisa and Lucca.^[2]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin operātiō (“work, activity”), taken from the accusative ⟨operationem⟩.^[3][4][5][6] Zingarelli and the GDLI call the Latin word Late Latin.^[6][2] It is the action noun of operor (“to work, be busy”), formed with the suffix -tiō, and so belongs with Italian operare and opera.^[4][7][1][8]

The GDLI explains ⟨operasione⟩ as a form of the Pisan and Lucchese area, perhaps also of Pistoia, and ⟨operagione⟩ as a Tuscan one.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first records are in Bono Giamboni, who died before 1292: the word means the act or result of working, and an action aimed at a purpose.^[3][5] In a passage the GDLI quotes, Giamboni writes that someone took from him all his means in such a way that mi rendè inutili tutte le mie operazioni (“he made all my works useless”).^[2] Zingarelli dates the word to about 1261.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word could mean any deed or work: Boccaccio writes of the operazioni of the gods, and Petrarch of a wit that freezes nell'operazïon (in the doing).^[9] The surgical sense is recorded around 1300 in the Italian translation of Guglielmo da Piacenza.^[3] DELI notes that until Gherardini's supplement of 1855 medical operazione could also mean the action of a purge on the bowels.^[3]

The military sense appears in 1516 in Marin Sanudo, and zona di operazione, the territory where fighting takes place, before 1872 in Giuseppe Mazzini.^[3] In mathematics Cosimo Bartoli used the word before 1572 for a process that yields one quantity from others.^[3] Already in the 14th-century Ottimo commentary on Dante it could mean a coordinated series of actions on a large scale.^[3] In modern usage it also names a planned police or military action, often with a code name, an advertising campaign, a movement of money in a bank, and an instruction executed by a computer.^[8][10][11]

Timeline

• c. 1261 – Zingarelli's date for the first record.^[6]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses operazione for a deed or action.^[3]
• c. 1300 – The sense “surgical operation” appears in the Italian Guglielmo da Piacenza.^[3]
• 1516 – Marin Sanudo uses the word for military operations.^[3]
• Before 1572 – Cosimo Bartoli uses it in mathematics.^[3]
• Before 1872 – Giuseppe Mazzini uses zona di operazione.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An operation, the act of working or doing something and its result; a procedure that needs care or skill: Smontare la caldaia è un'operazione lunga.^[5][8][10]
2. A set of coordinated actions aimed at a goal, especially in business, finance or policing: un'operazione commerciale, un'operazione antidroga.^[5][8][10]
3. (banking) Any movement of money, such as a deposit or a transfer.^[8][11]
4. A surgical operation, surgery: Domani mia madre ha un'operazione al ginocchio.^[5][8][10]
5. (military) A coordinated set of movements and actions of troops, in war or peace: operazioni navali.^[5][6][11]
6. A campaign or initiative of wide scope, often named after its aim.^[5][8][6]
7. (mathematics) A process that produces a number or other entity from given ones; one of the four operations of arithmetic: Mio figlio sta ancora imparando le operazioni.^[5][10][6]
8. (computing) An action specified by an instruction in a program.^[10]

Word family

• operazionale
• operazionismo

Related words

• operare
• opera
• operatore
• Latin operatio

Usage notes

Common combinations are operazione chirurgica (surgical operation) subire un'operazione (to undergo an operation) and le quattro operazioni (the four operations of arithmetic).^[5][11][12]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 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
4. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli