sequenza

Forms

sequenza f (plural sequenze)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Late Latin sequentia (“series, succession”), from sequēns, the present participle of sequor (“to follow”).^[2][3][4][1] DEI notes the Late Latin word in Boethius.^[5] In the senses of cinema and card games the word follows French séquence, and Gabrielli treats those senses as a separate loan from French.^[2][6][7] The older and popular form is seguenza, beside the inherited verb seguire.^[6][8]

De Vaan traces the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow”), with Ancient Greek ἕπομαι (hépomai, “I follow”) and Lithuanian sekti (“to follow”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first sense is liturgical: the chant sung after the alleluia in the Roman Mass.^[2][10] DELI dates it, with a query, to the 15th century, from sermons quoted by Tommaseo: E fecero in laude di quelle sacre stimate sequenze, inni ed antifone (“and in praise of those holy stigmata they made sequences, hymns and antiphons”).^[2][11] Zingarelli dates it before 1449.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The liturgical sequence arose about the middle of the 9th century, when new texts were set to the existing Gregorian melodies of the alleluia, and Notker Balbulus of Saint Gall shaped it.^[8] About 5,000 are known; after the Council of Trent only four were kept, and Benedict XIII added the Stabat Mater in 1727.^[8] The word also named religious poems in the vernacular modelled on the Latin ones, such as the Sequence of Saint Eulalia.^[8][7]

The general sense, “an ordered series”, is recorded from 1918 (Panzini), the run of cards in poker from 1922, the cinema sense from 1939 and the technical senses from 1960.^[2] French had the card sense in 1583 and the film sense in 1925.^[2] Fanfani recorded the old form seguenza for a great number of things, “a seguenza of birds, of mice”.^[12] Later use spread to computing, linguistics, mathematics, biochemistry and music, where Berio gave the title Sequenze to a series of pieces.^[4][10]

Timeline

• Before 1449 – The liturgical sense is first recorded.^[10]
• 1583 – French séquence is recorded in card games.^[2]
• 1727 – Benedict XIII adds the Stabat Mater to the sequences of the liturgy.^[8]
• 1918 – Panzini records the sense “ordered series”.^[2]
• 1922 – The card-game sense appears in the Zingarelli dictionary.^[2]
• 1925 – French séquence is recorded in cinema.^[2]
• 1939 – The cinema sense is recorded in Italian.^[2]
• 1960 – The technical senses are recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sequence, series or succession, especially an ordered or progressive one: una sequenza di numeri;^[4][6][13] in sequenza, one after another.^[4][6][13]
2. (technology) The ordered series of operations needed to make a finished product.^[4][6][10]
3. (computing) A series of data or instructions in a given order.^[4][10][7]
4. (cinema) A series of shots or scenes forming one narrative unit: La sequenza dell'inseguimento dura dieci minuti.^[4][13][8]
5. By extension, a unit of narrative elements in a novel, poem or play.^[4][13][8]
6. (card games) A run of cards in progressive order; a straight.^[13][10][8]
7. (liturgy, music) A medieval chant set to earlier melodies of the alleluia of the Mass; a hymn in praise of a saint.^[4][6][8]
8. (literature) A religious poem in the vernacular reworked from Latin models.^[4][13][8]
9. (linguistics) A succession of syntactically connected elements in a sentence.^[4][10]
10. (mathematics) A mapping of the numbers 1 to n into a set; a well-ordered set.^[4][10]
11. (biochemistry) The order of the amino acids in a protein or of the nucleotides in a nucleic acid.^[4][6]
12. (music) The repetition of a melody on another degree of the scale.^[10]

Word family

• sequenziale
• sequenziare
• sottosequenza

Related words

• seguire
• seguenza
• Latin sequentia
• French séquence

Usage notes

Seguenza is the older and popular form.^[6][8][13]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3457
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ 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 e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse