risorsa

Forms

risorsa f (plural risorse)^[1] An older adapted form risursa is recorded in Ottaviano Targioni Tozzetti in 1802.^[2] Variants with doubled /s/, rissórsa, also occur.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French ressource, a noun formed on Old French resourdre (“to rise again”), which continues Latin resurgō (“to rise again”).^[4][5][6][1] Zingarelli and Gabrielli explain the French noun as the feminine past participle of the verb used as a noun.^[7][8] The French word is recorded from 1160, in the form resorse.^[6] Devoto explains the sense from the image of water welling up again, which led to that of a source of supply or income.^[9][4] Nocentini likewise gives the first sense as a spring, a source of provisions.^[5] In the 17th century the raw French form resource was sometimes used in Italian.^[4]

The Latin verb is surgō (“to rise”) with the prefix re-;^[5] the simple verb is itself a compound of regō (“to direct, stretch”).^[10] The same Latin verb is continued in risorgere and gave the learned resurrezione.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

After an isolated example in the letters of Francesco Marchi, who died in 1576, the word reappears in 1746 in Marco Maria Serra and Giovanni Luca Pallavicini.^[4] Marchi wrote that “the soldiers have no other resources left except to go and drink at the seashore” (Li soldati non hanno più altre risorse, se non andare a bevere alla marina), that is, no way out.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The word spread in Napoleonic times in writing on politics and economics, against the opposition of the purists, which lasted a long time.^[4] Tommaseo objected that Italian had no sorsa for a spring, while Gherardini defended the word in 1847 as long and generally established in Italy; as late as 1863 Carducci mocked its many meanings in an essay on “the resources” of San Miniato al Tedesco.^[11][4][12]

The sense “means that can bring income or wealth” is recorded before 1835 in Melchiorre Delfico, and uomo di molte risorse, a person who can get out of difficult situations, in 1959.^[4] Risorse umane is a calque of English human resources, recorded in the press in 1984.^[13][7][3] In computing the word names each part of a system, such as the memory or a printer.^[6][14][15]

Timeline

• Before 1576 – An isolated example in the letters of Francesco Marchi.^[4][11]
• 1746 – Marco Maria Serra and Giovanni Luca Pallavicini use risorsa.^[4]
• 1802 – The variant risursa is recorded.^[2]
• Before 1835 – The sense “source of wealth” appears in Melchiorre Delfico.^[4]
• 1847 – Gherardini defends the word against the purists.^[4]
• 1863 – Carducci mocks the Gallicism.^[4]
• 1959 – Uomo di molte risorse is recorded.^[4]
• 1984 – Risorse umane appears in La Repubblica.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A means by which a need or a difficulty can be met; in the plural especially money and material means: In poche settimane avevamo esaurito tutte le risorse.^[6][13][14]
2. A quality, talent or ability a person can draw on: Mia sorella ha risorse che nessuno immagina.^[6][13][7]
3. A source of wealth or production for a place or country: Il legname è la principale risorsa di quella valle.^[6][7][8]
4. (ecology) In the plural, the biological energy available in an environment as food for its species.^[6][15]
5. (computing) Each of the hardware or software components of a system.^[6][14][7]

Related words

• risorgere
• resurrezione
• French ressource
• Latin resurgo

Usage notes

Common expressions are risorse naturali, risorse rinnovabili (renewable resources) and risorse umane, which also names a company's personnel department.^[13][7][8]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 843
3. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 16, 844
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ 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 Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana