ricorrenza

Forms

ricorrenza f (plural ricorrenze)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian ricorrere + -enza.^[2][3][4][5] Zingarelli and Gabrielli derive it from the present participle ricorrente instead, and Wiktionary allows either that formation or a borrowing of the Latin noun recurrentia.^[6][7][1]

The verb is from Latin recurrō (“to run back; to return”), formed from re- (“back”) and currō (“to run”).^[8][9] The same Latin verb gave French recourir, Occitan recorre, Catalan recorrer and Spanish recorrer.^[9] Its past participle recursus was already a noun meaning “return” in classical Latin, and in late legal Latin it meant “appeal”, the source of ricorso.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Oudin's dictionary of 1640, with the sense “the fact of recurring, of coming back at regular intervals”.^[8][2]

Semantic evolution

From the periodic return of an event the word passed to the event itself, a feast or anniversary that comes back every year: Leopardi, who died in 1837, already wrote of a festiva ricorrenza, and Fanfani's Tuscan vocabulary of 1863 records the sense.^[8][3] Tommaseo–Bellini give examples such as annua ricorrenza and ricorrenze solenni, and record the plural ricorrenze for menstrual periods.^[10]

In medicine the word names the return, at more or less regular intervals, of normal or pathological phenomena, such as the symptoms of a disease.^[5][2][4] In mathematics and logic per ricorrenza means “by induction”, in phrases such as dimostrazione per ricorrenza and definizione per ricorrenza.^[5][2] The word was also used for each place where a word, a name or a usage turns up in a text, a sense now usually given to occorrenza.^[5][2]

Timeline

• 1640 – Ricorrenza is first recorded, in Oudin's dictionary, for a periodic return.^[8]
• Before 1837 – Leopardi writes of a festiva ricorrenza, a recurring feast.^[8]
• 1863 – Fanfani's Tuscan vocabulary records the sense “feast that comes back every year”.^[8][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. recurrence: the periodic return of a fact or event: la ricorrenza delle piene del fiume.^[2][4][3][1]
2. An anniversary, or a feast or celebration that comes back at a fixed date every year: la ricorrenza di Ognissanti.^[2][4][3][1]
3. (medicine) The return of the symptoms of a disease, or of a normal phenomenon, at intervals; a relapse (recidiva).^[2][4][5]
4. (in the plural, colloquial) menstruation.^[2][5][10]
5. (mathematics, logic) induction, in per ricorrenza: ragionamento per ricorrenza.^[2][5]
6. An occurrence of a word or form in a text; usually occorrenza.^[2][5]

Related words

• ricorrere
• ricorrente
• ricorso
• occorrenza
• Latin recurrō

Usage notes

For a word, name or usage turning up in a text, Treccani notes that occorrenza is now the more frequent word, though it considers ricorrenza the more correct one.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
8. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET