Etymologically
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operazione

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 21 October 2026 at 21:11. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • /o.pe.ratˈt͡sjo.ne/[1]

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

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