sete

Forms

sete f (plural seti)^[1] Old Italian also had sede, sette and séve, and the northern texts of Bonvesin de la Riva write sedhe.^[2] An old and dialect form seta is also recorded, which Zingarelli marks as southern.^[3][4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sitis (“thirst”), through its accusative.^[6][7][8][1] The Latin word meant “thirst” and “parching dryness”, and figuratively “craving”.^[7]

The word is pan-Romance: Old French soi (modern French soif), Occitan set, Catalan set, Spanish sed, Portuguese sede, Sardinian sidis and Romanian sete.^[7][9] Meyer-Lübke adds Dalmatian sait, Romansh sait in the Engadine and Friulian set.^[9]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *(k)siti- and traces the Latin word to Proto-Indo-European *dʰgʷʰi-ti- (“destruction, perishing”), with cognates in Ancient Greek φθίνω (phthínō, “to waste away, perish”).^[10][1] Nocentini compares Ancient Greek φθίσις (phthísis, “wasting, consumption”), the source of Italian tisi; the comparison points to an original sense of “wasting” and to an initial consonant cluster that Latin simplified.^[7] According to de Vaan the cluster was metathesised in pre-Italic and ended as Latin ⟨s-⟩.^[10] Devoto read the history the other way round, with “thirst” as the old sense and “consumption” as a later development in dry regions.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Bono Giamboni's Vizi e virtudi, before 1292, with the physical sense: the feeling that makes one want to drink.^[6] GRADIT dates the word to before 1290 and Zingarelli to 1268.^[8][4]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “ardent desire” follows in Jacopone da Todi, who died in 1306, and the sense “the need of plants and soil for water” in the Italian translation of Pietro de' Crescenzi, about 1350.^[6] Dante speaks of la sete natural che mai non sazia, “the natural thirst that is never satisfied”, meaning the longing to know.^[3][12] Old Italian also had setata, “great and lasting thirst”.^[13]

The plural was used in older prose (fami e seti tormentose).^[14] Derivatives formed with prefixes are assetato (late 13th century), assetare (early 14th century) and dissetare (14th century). Dissetante (before 1923) is formed from dissetare.^[7]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses sete for physical thirst.^[6]
• Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses the word for an ardent desire.^[6]
• c. 1350 – The Italian Crescenzi speaks of the thirst of plants and soil.^[6]
• Before 1923 – Dissetante “thirst-quenching” is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. thirst: the bodily need to take in water, felt as a dryness of the mouth and throat: Dopo la corsa avevo una gran sete.^[8][15][5]
2. morire di sete (hyperbolic): to be very thirsty.^[8][4]
3. The need of plants or soil for water; dryness: Dopo un mese senza pioggia l'orto ha sete.^[8][15][4]
4. (figurative) An intense desire, craving: sete di potere, sete di vendetta.^[8][15][4]

Word family

• assetare
• assetato
• dissetare
• dissetante

Related words

• tisi
• Latin sitis
• French soif

Usage notes

Sete is mostly used in the singular.^[15][5] The same spelling is the plural of seta “silk” (le sete, silks), a word of different origin, from Latin sēta “bristle”.^[1][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 18, 807
3. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
4. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 403
12. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 914
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse