ponente

Forms

ponente m (plural ponenti)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian porre (“to put, to set”): a noun use of its present participle, from its use with sole (“sun”) for the setting sun, and stands in opposition to levante, the east.^[2][3][4][5] Devoto–Oli, Sabatini–Coletti and Treccani take it instead from Medieval Latin ponens, the present participle of Latin pōnō (“to put, place”), which in Late Latin also meant “to set” of the sun.^[6][7][8] The Medieval Latin word meant both “western” and “west wind”.^[9]

The parallel formations are Occitan ponen, Catalan ponent, Spanish poniente and Portuguese poente.^[3][10][11] Körting noted that this is the popular Italian word for the west, while occidente and its counterparts are learned in every Romance language.^[11]

The Latin verb is a compound of po- and sinō (“to let, place”), meaning “to put down”.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Venetian text of the treaty with Aleppo of 1207–1208.^[13] DELI dates the sense “the part of the horizon where the sun sets” to about 1275.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the cardinal point the word passed to the lands lying to the west and to the wind that blows from the west, which DELI first finds in the Ottimo commento to Dante in the 14th century.^[2][13] In Old Italian dal levante al ponente meant “everywhere”.^[13] Dante writes of Mars glowing red giù nel ponente, low in the west.^[14] With a capital letter Ponente named the countries of western Europe, and the Riviera di Ponente is the Ligurian coast west of Genoa.^[15][8][1]

In 1935 Panzini praised ponente as a fine popular word that had fallen out of use in favour of occidente and ovest.^[2] The diminutive ponentino, the cool sea breeze of summer afternoons and evenings in Rome, is recorded from 1918, though Venetian ponentin “light west wind” is found in 1829.^[2]

A separate ecclesiastical use goes back to Church Latin ponens, “one who proposes a question”: the ponente is the cardinal or prelate who reports on causes before the Roman congregations.^[9][8][16] In the philosophy of Romantic idealism the participle means “that posits”: Rosmini wrote of Schelling's Io ponente and Io posto.^[17]

English took the word as ponente, the west wind, in 1576, and German had ponent for the cardinal point in 1472–1473.^[18]

Timeline

• 1207–1208 – Ponente appears in a Venetian text of the treaty with Aleppo.^[13]
• About 1275 – The sense “west, where the sun sets” is recorded.^[2][18]
• 14th century – The Ottimo commento uses ponente for the west wind.^[2]
• 1472–1473 – German ponent names the cardinal point.^[18]
• 1576 – English ponente “west wind” is first recorded.^[18]
• 1829 – Venetian ponentin “light west wind” appears in Boerio's dictionary.^[2]
• 1918 – Ponentino, the Roman sea breeze, is recorded.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The west, the part of the horizon where the sun sets, as opposed to levante: La terrazza guarda a ponente.^[15][6][7]
2. The land or region lying to the west of a given place; with a capital letter, the countries of the West: la Riviera di Ponente.^[15][6][19]
3. The west wind.^[15][6][4]
4. (Catholicism) The cardinal or prelate who reports on sacred causes in the Roman congregations.^[15][8][16]

Adjective

1. (rare) Present participle of porre;^[15][4][17] (philosophy) that posits or creates, in Romantic idealism.^[15][4][17]

Word family

• ponentino

Related words

• porre
• levante
• occidente
• Latin pono

Usage notes

In Tuscany and the Tuscan Archipelago essere di ponente means to be very irritable, because the west wind was thought to cause irritation.^[20]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ 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)
9. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3013
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
18. ^ 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
19. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
20. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Marcato, Carla (1998), I dialetti italiani: dizionario etimologico, Torino: UTET