pensiero

Forms

pensiero m (plural pensieri)^[1] Old forms include pensiere (Jacopone da Todi), pensieri (Guittone d'Arezzo) and pensero (Francesco da Barberino, Dante).^[2][3] Pensiere and pensero survive as literary forms.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Occitan pensier (“thought”), a noun formed on pensar (“to think”), which continues Latin pēnsāre (“to weigh carefully; to consider”).^{[6][7][4][8][2][1]} It came into Old Italian as ⟨pensiere⟩, and the ending was later aligned with that of nouns in ⟨-iero⟩.^[6] Prati allowed that the word could also have been formed in Italian from the verb.^[3] It may be compared with Sicilian pinzeri.^[1]

The Latin verb meant first “to weigh”, then “to weigh on, oppress” and “to think over”: both pesare and pensare come from it, as do French peser and Spanish pesar.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur of the late 12th century.^[8] DELI dates the sense “act and faculty of thinking” to Dante's Vita nuova (1293–1294), and the sense “anxiety, worry” to Bono Giamboni before 1292.^[11][7]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word covered the mind and its faculties, an idea or opinion, a plan, a longing, and care or anxiety.^[8] Dante defines it in the Convivio: Lo pensiero è proprio atto de la ragione, perché le bestie non pensano (“thought is the proper act of reason, for beasts do not think”).^[12][4] The sense “thing produced by thinking” is also in Dante, before 1321.^[11] Derivatives followed: pensieroso in Jacopone da Todi, spensierato in the 16th century and impensierire in 1548.^[3][6]

In architecture pensiero was used before 1775 for the first design of a building.^[13] The sense “kind or attentive gesture, small present” is recorded in Giuseppe Marotta in the mid-20th century.^[11][14] English borrowed penseroso through Milton's poem Il Penseroso, and pensiero itself is recorded in English in 1909, and in 1959 for an artist's sketch.^[2][13]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur have the word.^[8]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for anxiety.^[11]
• 1293–1294 – Dante uses it for the faculty of thought in the Vita nuova.^[11]
• 1548 – Impensierire is recorded.^[6]
• Before 1775 – Pensiero is used for an architect's design.^[13]
• 1909 – English pensiero is recorded.^[13]
• 1947–1956 – Giuseppe Marotta uses it for a kind gesture.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. thought, the mental activity by which people form ideas and understand reality; the faculty of thinking.^[7][4][10]
2. The mind as the seat of thought, memory and imagination: Con il pensiero sono già in vacanza.^[7][4][15]
3. Speculative activity; the doctrines of a period, school or thinker: il pensiero di Kant.^[7][4][5]
4. An idea, opinion or reflection; what someone thinks: Dimmi il tuo pensiero su questa proposta.^[7][10][15]
5. An intention, a plan.^[10][15]
6. worry, anxiety: Non darti pensiero per me.^[11][1][14]
7. A short written reflection, a maxim.^[10]
8. A kind thought, a small present: Ti ho portato un pensierino.^[11][14]

Word family

• pensierino
• pensieroso
• pensierosità
• impensierire
• soprappensiero
• spensierato
• spensieratezza
• retropensiero

Related words

• pensare
• pesare
• Old Occitan pensar

Usage notes

Common phrases are stare in pensiero “to be worried”, darsi pensiero “to worry”, leggere nel pensiero “to read someone's mind” and sopra pensiero or soprappensiero “lost in thought”.^[7][5][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2836
3. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 760
4. ^ a b c d e f 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 Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
14. ^ a b c Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
15. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli