pazienza

Forms

pazienza f (plural pazienze)^[1] Old forms are Old Italian pacienzia (Guittone), Old Italian pazienzia and Old Italian pacienza, the last still regional, with Old Italian pacenza and Old Italian pacenzia.^[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin patientia (“endurance, patience”), a learned word that came into Italian through the language of the Church.^[2][3][6] The Latin noun is formed on patiēns (“enduring”) with -ia;^[7][1][6] which is the present participle of patior (“to suffer, endure”).^[7][1][6] French patience is recorded from the 12th century, and Spanish and Portuguese paciencia are learned words too.^[2][8]

The origin of the verb is unclear.^[9] One proposal links it with Ancient Greek πῆμα (pêma, “suffering”) from Proto-Indo-European *peh₁-, but the formation of the verb does not fit; de Vaan also considers the root Proto-Indo-European *pet- (“to fly, fall”), with an original sense “to befall”.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Brunetto Latini, before 1294, uses it for the virtue of bearing what is unpleasant or painful calmly and for long;^[10][2] Guittone d'Arezzo has the form pacienzia.^[10][2] The Italian Tesoro of Brunetto defines it: Pazienza è una virtù, per cui nostro cuore soffera gli assalti della avversità, patience is a virtue through which our heart suffers the assaults of adversity.^[11]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th and 14th centuries the word was at home in religious prose, and it also meant suffering itself: Dante has penitents of whom the one who showed most pazienza in his bearing seemed to say, weeping, Più non posso, I can bear no more.^[12][13] This sense is now obsolete.^[14][5]

From the virtue came the garment: a sleeveless habit open at the sides, worn over the tunic by members of some Catholic orders, recorded as pacienzia in 1561 (Citolini) and pazienza in 1585 (Garzoni).^[10] Trentino pazienza for a child's bib and Venetian and Emilian pazienza for a scapular come from it.^[2] On sailing ships the word is a belaying rack.^[12][1]

Everyday Italian made it an interjection of resignation, pazienza!, “oh well, never mind”, and a formula of polite apology, abbia pazienza.^[6][1] Patience also came to mean painstaking care, as in gioco di pazienza, a puzzle, and the docility of working animals.^[5][12]

Timeline

• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses the word;^[10][2] Guittone d'Arezzo has pacienzia.^[10][2]
• 1561 – Pacienzia names a monastic habit (Citolini).^[10]
• 1585 – T. Garzoni uses pazienza for the habit.^[10]
• 1825 – Pazienza names a dock plant.^[15][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. patience: the ability to bear pain, difficulties and annoyance calmly and without reacting: Ci vuole pazienza con i nuovi colleghi.^[6][4][14]
2. Self-control, the ability to hold back anger or haste: perdere la pazienza, to lose one's temper.^[6][14]
3. diligence, painstaking care in a task: gioco di pazienza, a puzzle.^[6][4][12]
4. Of animals, docility and endurance of hard work.^[4][12][5]
5. (obsolete) Suffering, pain.^[14][12][1]
6. (religion) A sleeveless habit open at the sides, worn over the tunic in some Catholic orders; also a friar's cord.^[10][12][14]
7. (nautical) A belaying rack (cavigliera).^[12][1]
8. (botany) patience dock, Rumex patientia (also erba pazienza).^[12][16][1]

Interjection

1. Oh well, never mind: an exclamation of resignation: È chiuso? Pazienza, torneremo domani.^[6][14][1]

Word family

• pazienzioso

Related words

• pazientare
• paziente
• pazientemente
• impazienza
• patire
• Latin patientia

Usage notes

Nocentini treats the plant name as a separate word: not the virtue but a Romance formation from Latin lapathia (neuter plural taken as a feminine singular, with the first syllable read as the article la), the source of lapazio;^[15][2] DEI notes French patience for the dock from 1564.^[15][2] Common phrases are portare pazienza (to be patient), armarsi di pazienza (to steel oneself to wait), la pazienza di Giobbe (the patience of Job) and santa pazienza!.^[14][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2811
3. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 754
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
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. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
14. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana