sessanta

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *sexā(gi)nta, the spoken form of Classical Latin sexāgintā, from sex (“six”).^[2][3][4][5] Nocentini analyses the Latin word as a compound of the word for six and the ending that names the tens, a neuter plural.^[6][7] Devoto explains the Italian form by the loss of the /g/ before /i/, a shift of the stress onto the resulting diphthong, and its reduction to ⟨a⟩, as in prete and frale; the ⟨a⟩ of the Latin ending itself he puts down to quadrāgintā (“forty”).^[8]

The same Latin word is French soixante, Occitan seisanta, Catalan seixanta, Spanish sesenta and Portuguese sessenta, with Friulian sesante and the Engadine form sesaunta.^[6][9] The Latin word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sweḱsḱomt, from an earlier *swéḱs-dḱomt (“six-ten”), and is cognate with Ancient Greek ἑξήκοντα (hexḗkonta).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Sienese accounts of Mattasalà, 1233–1243, as the cardinal number “sixty”.^[10] DELI cites Venetian sexanta in 1312 and Dante's sessanta in 1293–1294, in the Vita nuova: Presi li nomi di sessanta le più belle donne de la cittade (“I took the names of sixty of the most beautiful women of the city”).^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian wrote the number in many local forms, among them sesanta, sensanta, sissanta and sixanta.^[10][5] Besides the number itself, sessanta came to name the sixtieth year of a century and, in the plural, a decade: gli anni Sessanta, especially the 1960s.^[3][11][12] Like other round numbers it is also used loosely for “a great many”.^[11]

Tommaseo records sessanta as a term of the card game minchiate, for a score of sixty points.^[13] Among the derivatives, sessantina “about sixty” and “the age of sixty” goes back to the 15th century, sessantesimo to Pietro Bembo, and sessantenne to 1873.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1233–1243 – First record, in the Sienese accounts of Mattasalà.^[10]
• 1293–1294 – Dante uses sessanta in the Vita nuova.^[2]
• 1312 – Venetian sexanta is recorded.^[2]
• Late 15th century – Sessantina is used of the age of sixty.^[2]
• Before 1547 – Pietro Bembo uses sessantesimo.^[2]
• 1873 – Sessantenne is recorded by Tommaseo and Bellini.^[2]
• 1960 – Sessantenario is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Numeral

1. sixty: six times ten (60, in Roman numerals LX): Il viaggio dura sessanta minuti.^[3][11][12]
2. With a noun understood, sixty years of age, or sixty kilometres an hour: Mia zia ha passato i sessanta.^[3][11][14]
3. (hyperbolic) A great many: Gliel'ho detto sessanta volte.^[11]
4. After a noun, sixtieth: pagina sessanta.^[3][11][15]

Noun

1. The number sixty, or the figure that represents it.^[3][11]
2. The sixtieth year of a century, especially 1960: Mia madre è del sessanta.^[3][11]
3. (in the plural) Gli anni Sessanta: the decade from 60 to 69 of a century, especially the 1960s.^[3][15][12]

Word family

• sessantina
• sessantesimo
• sessantenne
• sessantennio
• sessantenario
• sessantino

Related words

• sei
• Latin sexāgintā

Usage notes

Sessanta is invariable; before anni it is usually elided: sessant'anni.^[15][16] In the Italian school system sixty is the lowest pass mark at the state examination of the upper secondary school.^[17]

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 f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org