risultato

Forms

risultato m (plural risultati)^[1]

Etymology

It is the past participle of risultare (“to result”) used as a noun: from Italian risultare + -ato.^[2][3][4] The verb is a learned word, borrowed from Latin resultō (“to rebound; to resound”), from re- (“back”) and saltō (“to jump”).^[5][2][1] The Latin verb took the sense “to result” in the scholastic Latin of the Middle Ages, where it is recorded from the 13th century together with the noun Medieval Latin resultatum or resultatus.^[5][6] The GDLI therefore derives the Italian noun directly from scholastic Latin.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in Vittorio Siri, as resultato in 1647 and risultato in 1667, with the sense “what comes as the outcome of causes, operations or events”.^[5] The participle as an adjective, “derived as a consequence”, is recorded in Paolo Segneri in 1694.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The purists of the 19th century objected to the noun, but it became part of ordinary Italian.^[5] Writers of the 18th and 19th centuries, such as Melchiorre Delfico and Ugo Foscolo, use it for the outcome of an action or of a historical situation.^[6] Today it also names the score of a match and an election result, a pupil's performance at school, and the answer to a calculation.^[7][3] Maltese borrowed the word as riżultat.^[1]

Timeline

• 1647 – Vittorio Siri uses resultato “outcome”.^[5]
• 1667 – Siri has the form risultato.^[5]
• 1694 – Paolo Segneri uses the participle as an adjective.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The result, the outcome of a process or activity: i risultati dell'analisi.^[7][3][4]
2. (absolute) A good result, a success: Con tanta fatica abbiamo ottenuto qualche risultato.^[3][8]
3. A pupil's performance, marks: I risultati del primo quadrimestre sono buoni.^[7]
4. The score of a match or competition; the result of an election: Il risultato finale è stato di due a zero.^[7][3][8]
5. (mathematics) The number or formula obtained at the end of a calculation or a problem.^[7][4][8]

Related words

• risultante
• Latin resulto

Usage notes

Resultato is a less common variant.^[3][4] In sport, fare risultato is to gain points for the league table, and risultato utile is a win or a draw.^[3][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana