Etymologically
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ricominciare

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Pronunciation

  • /ri.ko.minˈt͡ʃa.re/[1]

Forms

ricominciare (first-person singular present ricomìncio, first-person singular past historic ricominciài, past participle ricominciàto, auxiliary (transitive) avére or (intransitive) èssere)[1] A variant is rincominciare.[2] GDLI records the old form ricuminciare.[3]

Etymology

It is from Italian ri- + cominciare (“to begin”), with the prefix of repetition.[4][5][6][7][1] GDLI traces the prefix to Latin iterative re-.[3] Tommaseo set beside it Latin reincipiō, recorded in a 5th-century inscription.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Bono Giamboni's Libro de' vizî e delle virtudi (before 1292), with the sense “to begin afresh”;[4][5][9] Zingarelli dates the word to about 1261.[4][5][9] The Novellino tells of a truce: Ruppesi la triegua e ricominciossi la guerra (“The truce was broken and the war started again”).[3]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses it several times for taking up a speech again, as in Ricominciar, come noi restammo, ei / l'antico verso (“when we stopped, they began again their old lament”).[4][3] He also uses it for “to renew, to bring back”: Dolce color d'orïental zaffiro … a li occhi miei ricominciò diletto (“the sweet colour of oriental sapphire … renewed delight to my eyes”).[5][8]

The intransitive use, “to start again”, is recorded by Tommaseo–Bellini in 1872, and with weather verbs the construction is impersonal, as in ricomincia a piovere.[4][2][9] The exclamation si ricomincia! expresses annoyance at something tiresome starting all over again.[5][9][7]

Timeline

  • c. 1261 – Zingarelli's date of first record.[9]
  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses ricominciare for “to begin afresh”.[4][5]
  • 1300–1313 – Dante uses it for resuming a speech.[4]
  • 1872 – The intransitive use is recorded by Tommaseo–Bellini.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive) To begin again, to resume after a pause: Dopo le vacanze ricominciamo il corso di nuoto.[5][2][6][1]
  2. (transitive, with a and the infinitive) To take up doing something again: Ha ricominciato a correre dopo l'infortunio.[5][2][6]
  3. (literary) To renew, bring about again.[5][2]
  4. (intransitive, auxiliary essere) To start again after an interruption: È ricominciata la stagione delle piogge.[5][2][6][1]

Word family

  • ricominciamento

Usage notes

Ricominciare da capo (or, informally, da zero) is to start again from the beginning.[7][9] With an impersonal verb the auxiliary can be essere or avere (è or ha ricominciato a piovere).[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  7. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  8. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli