Etymologically
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recente

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Pronunciation

  • /reˈt͡ʃɛn.te/[1]
  • Regional: /reˈt͡ʃen.te/[1]

Forms

recente m or f by sense (plural recenti, superlative recentissimo)[1] The older form ricente was common in the 13th and 14th centuries.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin recēns (“fresh; new, recent”), a learned word.[5][6][7][8] DEI calls it probably literary: the Latin word has popular outcomes across Romance, but not in the Italian dialects;[2][1] Wiktionary adds that the older form ricente may be inherited.[2][1] The Latin word survives in Romanian rece (“cold”), Friulian rezint, Engadine argèint, Old French roisent, Spanish recién and Portuguese recente, and was borrowed as French récent.[9][10][2] Its derivative Latin recentō (“to refresh”) lives on in the dialects, and in French rincer (“to rinse”).[5][9]

The Latin word is probably a compound of re- (“again, back”) and Proto-Italic *kent(i)- (“young, first”), from Proto-Indo-European *ken-t- (“young, new”), related to Ancient Greek καινός (kainós, “new”) and Sanskrit कनीन (kanī́na, “young”).[11][1] Nocentini compares the root with Old Irish cinim (“to spring forth”).[6] DELI calls the origin unclear.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Bono Giamboni, before 1292, with the sense “done or happened a short time ago”;[5][7][8] GRADIT and Devoto–Oli date the word before 1313.[5][7][8] Giamboni writes of the fallen cities of Spain that console la nostra ricente miseria, “our recent misery”.[12]

Semantic evolution

The early writers also used the word in the Latin sense “fresh”: Boccaccio speaks of le recenti ombre de' pini, “the cool shade of the pines”, and Tommaseo records ricente acqua and pan recente, fresh water and fresh bread.[5][7][3] Dante has piaghe … recenti e vecchie, “wounds new and old”.[3] The sense “fresh” is now obsolete.[13][14]

In the periods of history and archaeology recente marks the latest phase of a period, as in miceneo recente.[7][8][15] Derivatives followed: the adverb recentemente in Tasso (before 1595), recentissime, the latest news of the night, in Nievo (1857–1858), and the Latinism recenziore, “more recent”, in Roberto Longhi (1921–1922).[5]

Timeline

  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses ricente.[5][12]
  • Before 1313 – GRADIT's and Devoto–Oli's date for recente.[7][8]
  • Before 1595 – Tasso uses recentemente.[5]
  • 1857–1858 – Nievo uses recentissime for the latest news.[5]
  • 1921–1922 – Roberto Longhi uses recenziore.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. recent: that happened or was made a short time ago: È una scoperta molto recente.[7][8][15]
  2. Belonging to the phase of a period closest to the present; late: il Paleolitico recente.[7][8][13]
  3. (obsolete) Fresh.[7][13]

Word family

  • recentemente
  • recentissime
  • recenziore
  • recentazione

Usage notes

Di recente means “recently, not long ago”: L'ho rivisto di recente.[8][13][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3217
  3. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  4. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  12. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  13. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  15. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse