servente

Forms

servente m (plural serventi)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian servire (“to serve”): its present participle, a variant of serviente without the ⟨-i-⟩ of the third conjugation, used as an adjective and a noun.^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary compares Latin servientem, the accusative of the participle of serviō (“to serve”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the poet Rinaldo d'Aquino, as a participle and adjective “serving”: a man who is Love's servente.^[6][5] DELI dates it to the end of the 12th century;^[6][2][3][7] Nocentini, Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti to the 13th.^[6][2][3][7]

Semantic evolution

In the love poetry of the 13th century the lover declares himself the servente of his lady or of Love, as in Bonagiunta and Guido Cavalcanti.^[5][8] As a noun it meant a servant of either sex: Boccaccio writes of the greed of the serventi during the plague.^[9] Boccaccio also uses the adjective for an obliging wife, tanto obediente al marito e tanto servente.^[10][8]

In the 18th century the cavalier servente was a nobleman who attended a lady everywhere, a cicisbeo.^[3][8] The military sense, a soldier assigned to an artillery piece, appears in the phrase soldato servente before 1786 and as a noun in 1824.^[6] Later the word was used for an attendant in hospitals and charitable institutions, a sense Tommaseo notes.^[9][10] Law uses fondo servente for land burdened by an easement.^[3][8] Mario Praz used servente for a sideboard.^[5]

Timeline

• 13th century – Rinaldo d'Aquino uses servente.^[6][5]
• 14th century – Boccaccio uses the noun for servants.^[9]
• Before 1786 – A. D'Antonj writes soldato servente for an artilleryman.^[6]
• 1824 – Servente alone names the artilleryman.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (military) A soldier or sailor who works a gun or other heavy weapon, as loader, layer and so on: i serventi del pezzo.^[10][7][11]
2. (uncommon) An attendant in a hospital, home or other institution.^[10][7][11]
3. (archaic) A servant.^[10][3][7]
4. (sports, uncommon) The server in tennis or table tennis.^[10][3][11]
5. A woodworker's clamp holding newly glued pieces together.^[10][7]
6. A sideboard.^[10][5]

Adjective

1. (archaic) Obliging, helpful.^[10][3][11]
2. (law) fondo servente, land burdened by an easement.^[3][7][11]

Word family

• cavalier servente

Related words

• servire
• serviente
• inserviente
• servo
• Latin servio

Usage notes

Cavalier servente, the 18th-century cicisbeo, is now used ironically of a man who attends a woman everywhere.^[3][11]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
6. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d e f Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana