Etymologically
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opinione

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Pronunciation

  • /o.piˈnjo.ne/[1]

Forms

opinione f (plural opinioni)[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin opīniō (“supposition, belief, opinion”), the action noun of opīnor (“to think, to suppose”).[2][3][4][1] DEI notes that the philosophical term passed into the European languages in the Middle Ages: French opinion (12th century) and English opinion (13th century); it was translated by Old High German meinunga.[5][3] Körting lists it as learned in all the Romance languages.[6] Old forms such as Old Italian oppinione and Old Italian oppenione have a doubled /p/ after the secondary stress.[7][8]

The origin of the Latin verb is unclear.[9] Its link with optō (“to choose, to wish”) is traditional but weak in meaning, and an early Praenestine spelling with ⟨ei⟩ points to an old diphthong that makes a PIE etymology harder to find.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in a poem of the Sicilian school (before 1250) by Pier della Vigna, Iacopo Mostacci or Giacomo da Lentini, in the sense “idea, subjective conviction”.[2][4] In Old Italian the word was sometimes masculine.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Brunetto Latini already writes è oppinione di Tullio che… for “Cicero thinks that…” (before 1294).[2] The sense “esteem, reputation” is in Dante (1304–1308), and avere grande opinione di sé, to think highly of oneself, in Giordano da Pisa (1302–1305).[2] The word reached the dialects: Venetian punion means “stubbornness” and punioso “stubborn”.[10][5]

Pubblica opinione appears in Beccaria (1764) and opinione pubblica in Pietro Verri (1768) and Filangieri (before 1788); the GDLI compares French opinion publique.[2][11] Opinionista, a commentator who writes opinion pieces, dates from 1983.[3]

Timeline

  • Before 1250 – Opinione appears in the Sicilian school.[2]
  • Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses è oppinione di….[2]
  • 1304–1308 – Dante uses it for “esteem”.[2]
  • 1764 – Beccaria writes pubblica opinione.[2]
  • 1768 – Pietro Verri writes opinione pubblica.[2]
  • 1983 – Opinionista is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An opinion, a personal view or judgement: Ognuno ha diritto alla sua opinione.[4][12][7]
  2. Essere dell'opinione che: to think, to hold that.[4][12]
  3. The prevailing view: opinione corrente, opinione pubblica, the shared view of most citizens, and the public itself.[4][8][13]
  4. A conviction, especially political: reato d'opinione.[13][4]
  5. esteem, regard: Ho un'ottima opinione di lei.[4][12][7]

Word family

  • opinionista

Usage notes

La matematica non è un'opinione is said of something objectively certain.[12][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2663
  6. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  7. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  8. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 11
  12. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana