Etymologically
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positivo

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Pronunciation

  • /po.ziˈti.vo/[1]

Forms

positivo (feminine positiva, masculine plural positivi, feminine plural positive)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin positīvus (“laid down, established”), a learned word formed on positus (“placed”), the past participle of pōnō (“to put, place”).[2][3][4][5][1] The Latin grammarians used it for the positive degree of the adjective; in Scholastic terminology it came to mean “containing an affirmation”, as against negātīvus.[3][6] The same learned word is French positif, recorded from 1265, and Spanish positivo.[7][3]

Two later senses came from other languages.[2][3] In photography the adjective and the noun positiva follow English positive, recorded in 1840.[2][8][6] The sense “founded on the natural sciences” comes from the positive philosophy of Auguste Comte (1830), and positivismo and positivista are French positivisme and positiviste.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in Boccaccio about 1336, has the sense “laid down by someone, established by a historical act”, the sense of diritto positivo, law made by human authority.[2][9]

Semantic evolution

Pallavicino (before 1667) uses the word for something affirmative that gives certainty.[2] In mathematics it described numbers greater than zero before 1742 (Guido Grandi), and in physics Volta used it in 1816 for one of two opposite conventional states, as in positive electricity.[2] The sense “practical, sticking to facts” was recorded by Ugolini in 1848, with the example of a man who “goes after what is certain”;[2][3] positività is from the same year.[2][3]

The modern senses “favourable”, “good” and “optimistic” (un tipo positivo) extend the idea of affirmation.[4][5] In medicine a test is positivo when it finds what is looked for, and so is the patient; the GDLI quotes a newspaper of 1988.[7]

Timeline

  • About 1336 – Boccaccio uses positivo for something established by an act.[2]
  • Before 1667 – Sforza Pallavicino uses it for “affirmative, giving certainty”.[2]
  • Before 1742 – Guido Grandi uses it of numbers greater than zero.[2]
  • 1816 – Alessandro Volta uses it in physics.[2]
  • 1840 – English positive is used in photography.[2]
  • 1848 – Ugolini records the sense “practical, matter-of-fact”.[2]
  • 1988 – A newspaper uses positivo of a medical test.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Real, founded on facts that can be verified; certain: Non abbiamo ancora notizie positive. The scienze positive are the exact and experimental sciences.[4][5][8]
  2. Good, useful, advantageous: L'incontro ha avuto un esito positivo.[4][5]
  3. Favourable, approving: un parere positivo sul progetto.[4][9]
  4. Affirmative: Ha dato una risposta positiva.[4][9]
  5. Of a person, practical and down-to-earth, or optimistic and constructive: È una ragazza molto positiva, non si scoraggia mai.[4][8]
  6. (law) Laid down by an authority, as opposed to natural: diritto positivo.[9][5][2]
  7. (mathematics, physics) Greater than zero; of electric charge, opposite to negative.[2][4][1]
  8. (medicine) Of a test, showing the presence of what is sought; of a patient, having the condition tested for.[7]
  9. (photography) Of an image, with lights and shades as in the subject.[2][3]
  10. (grammar) Of an adjective, in the base degree.[3][6]

Word family

  • positiva
  • positività
  • positivamente
  • positivismo
  • positivista
  • positivistico
  • diapositiva

Usage notes

Used as a noun, il positivo is what is good in something: di positivo c'è che….[4][8] In photography the noun positiva is a print made from the negative.[3][2] DEI also records an obsolete noun positivo, a small chamber organ.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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 e f g h i j Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3034
  7. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  8. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  9. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli