sedici

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sēdecim (“sixteen”), a compound of sex (“six”) and decem (“ten”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Oxford Latin Dictionary also records a spelling with ⟨sexd-⟩.^[5]

The same Latin numeral gave French seize, Occitan setse, Catalan setze, Friulian sedis, Sardinian seigi and Dalmatian setko.^[3][6] The western languages say “ten and six” instead (Spanish diez y seis, Portuguese dezaseis), and Romanian șase spre zece is “six on ten”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The numeral is first recorded in 1211, in a Florentine bankers' book, in a sum of money: a sedici d. (“at sixteen deniers”).^[2][8] The meaning is the cardinal number, ten plus six.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian sedici also served as a noun for a board of sixteen magistrates, and was combined with other numerals, including Roman figures.^[8] Dante counts sixteen hours of night against eight of day in the Convivio, and Savonarola speaks of the sixteen confalonieri of Florence.^[9] The northern forms sedexe and sedese appear in Gidino da Sommacampagna and in Sanudo.^[9]

The ordinal sedicesimo is recorded before 1375, in Boccaccio, and the bookbinding term in sedicesimo, a sheet folded into sixteen leaves, before 1863.^[2] Sedicenne, “sixteen years old”, entered the dictionaries in 1873;^[2][3] DELI sees it as modelled on bienne, while Nocentini derives it from Late Latin sedecennis.^[2][3] The number also names the hour of four in the afternoon (le sedici), the sixteenth day of the month and a year ending in 16, and in jocular speech the backside, which stands for 16 in the cabala of the lottery.^[4][10][11]

Timeline

• 1211 – Sedici appears in a Florentine bankers' book.^[2][8]
• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo writes Capitolo sedeci (“chapter sixteen”).^[8]
• Before 1375 – The ordinal sedicesimo is recorded in Boccaccio.^[2]
• Before 1863 – In sedicesimo is recorded as a book format.^[2]
• 1873 – Sedicenne “sixteen years old” is recorded in Tommaseo–Bellini.^[2][3]

Meanings

Numeral

1. sixteen: ten plus six, written 16 or XVI: Mio fratello ha sedici anni.^[4][10][12]
2. After a noun, used as an ordinal: sixteenth: Apri il libro a pagina sedici.^[4][10]

Noun

1. The number sixteen, and the figure that writes it.^[4][13]
2. The sixteenth day of the month; also a year ending in 16 (nel sedici, 1916 or 1816).^[4][13][11]
3. (plural) Le sedici: four o'clock in the afternoon, 16:00.^[4][10][13]
4. (colloquial, jocular) The backside, which the number 16 stands for in the cabala of the lottery.^{[4][10][12][11]}
5. (history, plural, capitalized) I Sedici: the leaders of the Catholic League in Paris at the end of the 16th century;^[10][14] Sedici Savi, a board of magistrates holding executive power in the Republic of Venice.^[10][14]

Word family

• sedicesimo
• sedicenne
• sedicina

Related words

• sei
• dieci
• Latin sēdecim
• French seize

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
12. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)