settanta

Forms

settanta (invariable)^[2] Old forms are setanta, septanta and sittanta.^[3][4] Before anni it is elided: settant’anni.^[5][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *septuāg(i)nta, the spoken form of Latin septuāgintā (“seventy”).^[4][7][8] GRADIT gives the Latin variant as *septuanta, and Devoto says the form was brought into line with sessanta.^[2][9] The same word is Dalmatian septuanta, Old French setante, Occitan setanta, Catalan setanta, Spanish setenta and Portuguese setenta.^[10][11]

The Latin number was formed from septem (“seven”) with the ending of the tens, -gintā.^[12][11] De Vaan derives it from a compound “seven tens”: the ⟨ā⟩ was taken from the other tens such as sexāgintā (“sixty”), and the ⟨u⟩ arose by regular sound change from an older ⟨m⟩.^[13][1] Devoto instead explains the ⟨u⟩ by the influence of quadru-.^[9] Wiktionary gives the Indo-European form as Proto-Indo-European *septm̥̄ḱomt, from earlier “seven-ten”, and compares Ancient Greek ἑβδομήκοντα (hebdomḗkonta).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first records are Tuscan memoranda: setanta in 1270 and settanta in 1272.^[4] The sense is the number made of seven tens.^[4]

Semantic evolution

As a multiple of seven the number had a symbolic value in the Bible and in Christian writers.^[3] Jacopone has a nun say settant'anni fui renchiusa, “seventy years I was enclosed”, and Boccaccio takes seventy years as the span of human life.^[3] After the Gospel's settanta volte sette, seventy times seven, the number came to stand for a very large one.^[14][5]

I Settanta is the Septuagint, the first Greek translation of the Old Testament, named from the round number of its translators.^[14][8] In Florence the Consiglio dei Settanta was a council set up by Lorenzo de' Medici in 1480.^[8] Gli anni Settanta are the seventies of a century, above all the 1970s.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 1270 – Setanta is recorded in Tuscan memoranda.^[4]
• 1272 – Settanta is recorded.^[4]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses settantesimo.^[4]
• 1480 – Lorenzo de' Medici sets up the Florentine Consiglio dei Settanta.^[8]
• 1829 – Venetian setantèna is recorded by Boerio.^[4]
• 1873 – Settantina and settantenne are recorded.^[11]
• 1960 – Settantenario and settantennio are recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Numeral

1. seventy, seven times ten (70, LXX): Il paese dista settanta chilometri dal mare.^[2][15][5]
2. (after a noun) Seventieth: pagina settanta.^[2][15][5]
3. (hyperbolic) Very many: te l'ho ripetuto settanta volte.^[15]

Noun

1. The number seventy and the sign for it.^[2][15]
2. The year seventy of a century, especially 1970: gli anni Settanta are the seventies.^[2][15][7]
3. (plural, capitalised) i Settanta, the Septuagint.^[8][5][14]

Word family

• settantesimo
• settantina
• settantenne
• settantennio
• settantenario

Related words

• sette
• sessanta
• ottanta
• Latin septuāgintā

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 18, 811
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
7. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
8. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier