ottenere

Forms

ottenere (first-person singular present ottèngo, first-person singular past historic otténni or ottènni, past participle ottenùto, first-person singular future otterrò, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian obtenere, Old Italian optenere and Old Italian otenere.^[2]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin obtineō (“to hold firmly; occupy; obtain”), from ob- (“before, against”) and teneō (“to hold”).^[3][4][5][6] The stem vowel was remade on the model of tenere.^[4] Wiktionary calls the word probably semi-learned.^[1] The Latin verb also gave French obtenir (14th century) and Spanish obtener.^[4][7]

The Latin teneō is a stative present to Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”), related to Ancient Greek τείνω (teínō, “to stretch”).^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI notes that in Dante (1304–1308) the verb means “to hold, keep, possess” rather than “obtain”.^[3] The Convivio says “Quanto la nostra volontade ottenere puote, tanto le nostre operazioni si stendono” (as far as our will can hold, so far our actions extend).^[2] The sense “to succeed in getting what one wants or is entitled to” comes in Boccaccio (1348–1353).^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio tells of a man who, with many prayers mixed with great promises, “niuna cosa ottenne” (obtained nothing).^[9] Guicciardini (before 1540) uses it for taking a town, and Pier Vettori (1574) for producing something by a particular process.^[3][10] In Ariosto it is intransitive, “to prevail”, of an opinion or proposal, a sense now archaic.^[5][11][10] The derivatives are ottenimento (16th century, Pietro Bembo) and ottenibile (before 1712, Lorenzo Magalotti), preceded by ottenevole in Oudin's dictionary (1640).^[7][3][4]

Timeline

• 1304–1308 – Dante uses ottenere in the sense “to hold”.^[3]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it in the sense “to obtain”.^[3][5]
• Before 1540 – Francesco Guicciardini uses it for capturing a town.^[3][10]
• 16th century – Pietro Bembo uses ottenimento.^[7]
• 1574 – Pier Vettori uses it for obtaining something by a process.^[3]
• Before 1712 – Lorenzo Magalotti uses ottenibile.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To obtain, get, achieve something wanted or due; with di and an infinitive or che and a subjunctive: Dopo due anni ha ottenuto la cittadinanza.^{[5][12][13][1]}
2. (transitive) To achieve as a result or effect: Con le minacce non otterrai niente.^[5][12][13]
3. (transitive) To produce or extract by a process or operation: Sommando sette e otto si ottiene quindici.^{[5][12][14][1]}
4. (archaic) To prevail; to make a view or proposal accepted.^[5][11][1]

Word family

• ottenibile
• ottenimento
• riottenere

Related words

• tenere
• Latin teneō
• French obtenir

Usage notes

It is conjugated like tenere: ottengo, ottenni, otterrò.^[1][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12, 279
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2705
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. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET, p. 3, 695
10. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana