seriamente

Forms

seriamente^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian serio + -mente, the adverb of serio (“serious”).^[2][3][1]

The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin sērius (“grave, earnest”), said above all of things.^[4][5] Nocentini dates the adjective to the middle of the 16th century, while DELI's first record is Sforza Pallavicino, before 1667.^[5][4] It is Spanish serio in Spanish, while French uses the derivative sérieux.^[5] The Latin word is compared with Lithuanian svarùs (“heavy”) and Old High German swāri (“heavy, grievous”), the source of German schwer, which show the original meaning “heavy”;^[5][1] Wiktionary gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“heavy”).^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Devoto–Oli date the adverb to the 16th century.^[2][3] Among the early examples in the GDLI is Paolo Segneri's story of a nobleman from beyond the Alps who asked a learned man seriamente, “in earnest”, whether the same sins were equally grave in every country.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

The adverb has kept the sense “in a serious way, not jokingly”, often opposed to joking or irony: in a letter Carducci tells Elvira that he loves her seriamente.^[6] Tommaseo records pensare seriamente and seriamente occupato, and the sense “not as a pastime”, of returning to one's studies in earnest.^[7] The GDLI also has the sense “after careful thought”.^[6]

The modern dictionaries add a second sense, “gravely, to a worrying degree”, as of illness.^[2][3][8] The superlative seriissimamente occurs in Carlo Dossi and in the Futurist manifestos.^[6]

Timeline

• 16th century – Seriamente is first recorded.^[2][3]
• Middle of the 16th century – Nocentini's date for serio.^[5]
• Before 1667 – Sforza Pallavicino uses serio.^[4]
• 1673 – Paolo Segneri uses serietà.^[4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. seriously: with seriousness or commitment, not jokingly or superficially: Ne abbiamo parlato seriamente per un'ora.^[2][3][8]
2. Gravely, to a worrying degree: È rimasto seriamente ferito.^[2][3][8]

Related words

• serio
• serietà
• Latin serius

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d 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 e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli