posizione

Forms

posizione f (plural posizioni)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin positio (“placing; situation, position”), formed from positus (“placed”), the past participle of pōnō (“to put, place”).^[2][3][4][5] The Latin noun appears in the imperial period as a translation of Ancient Greek θέσις (thésis).^[6][7] DELI and DEI see the word as coming through French position, which has the sense “place where a thing is” from 1265, “posture of the body” from 1668 and “social and economic condition” from about 1772.^[2][6] The same Latin word is Spanish posición.^[3][8]

Pōnō is from Proto-Italic *pozinō, a compound of *po (“off, away”) and *sinō (“to put in place”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Restoro d'Arezzo's Composizione del mondo (1282), for the place in which something is set, in his description of the eighth sphere with its circles, figures and stars, their posizione e sito.^[2][9][7] Old Italian also used it for an idea put forward, a supposition, and for a written statement.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The posture of the body is recorded before 1600 in Lomazzo, and the military position, a place defended or to be taken, at the end of the 18th century: the purist Grassi accepted it only where the precise military sense was needed and preferred positura otherwise.^[2] The sense “social and economic condition” (1798) was condemned in 1831 by Lissoni, who said nobody had ever used it so, and the bureaucratic “file, state of a case” (1812) was attacked by Ugolini.^[2] The figurative “stance, attitude of mind” is in Mazzini, before 1872.^[2]

Today the word is also used for a place in a ranking or a race (la prima posizione), for the position of a sound in a word, and in phrases such as prendere posizione “to take a stand”, luci di posizione “sidelights” and guerra di posizione “trench warfare”.^[4][10][5]

Timeline

• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses posizione.^[2][9]
• Before 1600 – Posture of the body, in Lomazzo.^[2]
• Before 1786 – The military sense, in D'Antonj.^[2]
• 1798 – “Social and economic condition”, in Marescalchi.^[2]
• 1845 – The verb posizionare.^[3]
• Before 1872 – “Attitude of mind”, in Mazzini.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The place where someone or something is, especially in relation to other things: La casa è in una posizione tranquilla, lontana dalla strada.^{[4][11][5][1]}
2. (military) A place held or to be taken by troops: Il reparto ha abbandonato la posizione..^[11][5][10]
3. A place in a ranking, a list or a race: È risalito in terza posizione.^[4][11][12]
4. The way something is placed; arrangement: posizione orizzontale, verticale.^[4][11]
5. The posture of the body or of a limb: Cambia posizione, così ti fa male la schiena.^[4][10][12]
6. (figurative) A situation or condition, especially one's social or professional standing: Si è fatto una buona posizione in banca.^[4][5]
7. (figurative) An opinion or stance on a question: prendere posizione.^[4][10]
8. (linguistics) The place of a sound or element within a word or sentence.^[5][13]

Word family

• posizionare
• posizionamento
• posizionale

Related words

• porre
• posto
• positura
• Latin positio
• French position

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 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 e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3034
7. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana