Etymologically
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ritenere

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Pronunciation

  • /ri.teˈne.re/[1]

Forms

ritenere (first-person singular present ritèngo, first-person singular past historic riténni or ritènni, past participle ritenùto, first-person singular future riterrò, auxiliary avére)[1] Old Italian forms include retenere, retenire, retinere and ritinere, and an old past participle retento.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin retineō (“to hold back; to keep”), a compound of re- (“back”) and teneō (“to hold”).[3][4][5][6][1] In Latin the verb already meant both “to keep together, contain” and “to keep in mind”.[4] Devoto explains the ⟨i⟩ of the Latin stem as the normal weakening of ⟨e⟩ in an open medial syllable, and the Italian initial syllable as a cross with the prefix ri-.[7]

The same verb is French retenir, Occitan retener, Spanish retener and Portuguese reter.[4][8] The noun ritegno “restraint” was formed from the verb on the pattern of contegno beside contenere, as Merlo showed in 1951.[3][4] The learned ritenzione and ritentivo go back to the Latin past participle retentus.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's earliest dated sense is “to believe, judge”, in Giacomino Pugliese in the first half of the 13th century.[3] “To hold back, stop” is in two poems of Guido Guinizelli, before 1276, including Al cor gentil rempaira sempre amore.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb for stopping an enemy, keeping a secret, holding a prisoner, possessing, and receiving or lodging a guest; these senses are now archaic.[2][5][1] The Novellino already has it for keeping back part of a sum owed, and Dante (1304–1308) uses it figuratively for restraining a passion.[3] Boccaccio has the pronominal verb both for “to consider oneself” and for “to refrain”.[3]

The sense “to believe” was criticised: in 1831 Lissoni called it a wrong use, and as late as 1939–40 Palazzi thought ritenersi “to consider oneself” a neologism taken up by purists.[3] It is now the main sense of the verb.[6][5] From the participle came the noun ritenuta, an amount withheld, especially tax deducted from pay.[3][4]

Timeline

  • First half of the 13th century – Giacomino Pugliese uses ritenere for “to believe”.[3]
  • Before 1276 – Guido Guinizelli uses it for “to hold back”.[3]
  • Late 13th century – The Novellino uses it for withholding part of a sum.[3]
  • 1304–1308 – Dante uses it for restraining a passion.[3]
  • 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses ritenersi “to consider oneself”.[3]
  • 1598 – Florio records the sense “to hold again”.[3]
  • 1831 – Lissoni condemns the sense “to believe”.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To believe, consider, judge: Ritengo che abbia ragione lui. With a complement: Lo ritenevano un buon medico.[5][6][9]
  2. To hold back, restrain, check: un muro per ritenere la terra; figuratively, ritenere uno sbadiglio.[5][10][6]
  3. To remember, keep in mind: Non riesco a ritenere i numeri di telefono.[5][10][11]
  4. Of the body, to retain (fluids, fat); non ritenere il cibo, to vomit it.[5][11]
  5. To withhold or deduct part of a sum owed: Dallo stipendio gli ritengono le tasse.[5][6][11]
  6. (rare) To hold again.[5][9]
  7. (archaic) To keep (a secret), to hold prisoner, to possess, to lodge.[5][9][1]

Word family

  • ritenuta
  • ritegno
  • ritentiva
  • ritentivo
  • ritenzione
  • ritenuto
  • ritenimento

Usage notes

Ritenersi “to consider oneself” takes a complement: si ritiene fortunato.[6][11] In music ritenuto marks a sudden slowing of the tempo.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  4. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  10. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  11. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana