somma

Forms

somma f (plural somme)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin sŭmma (“the highest part; the total; a sum of money”), the feminine of summus (“highest”) (Italian sommo) used as a noun.^[2][3][4][5] The same Latin word gave French somme, Old Occitan soma, Catalan suma, Spanish suma and Romanian sumă.^[6][7][3] Devoto explains the sense “total” from the Latin phrase summa linea (“the top line”).^[8] The Latin adjective summus is the superlative of superus (“upper”).^[1][9]

DEI derives the arithmetic sense, “the operation of adding”, from the verb sommare, and dates it from Francesco Lana in the 17th century.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Garzo's verses of the 13th century use somma for the result of an addition: two hundred and forty “is their sum”.^[2][11] In the sense “amount of money” Medieval Latin suma is recorded at Torcello in 1196–1197, before any Italian text.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The Latin sense “highest point” survived in Old Italian: Giordano da Pisa (1305–1306) uses somma for perfection, a summit.^[2] Cecco Angiolieri (before 1313) has it for a sum of money, and Bonvesin de la Riva (before 1315) for the substance or gist of something.^[2] Old forms include sòma, suma and summa.^[11]

The word for the operation of adding, not only its result, is recorded from Francesco Lana in 1670.^[2] The medieval theological summa, as in Thomas Aquinas's Summa, is also called somma.^[9] In pharmacology the word names a combination of two drugs whose effect does not exceed that of each one.^[4][12] From the phrase in somma came the adverb insomma.^[3]

Timeline

• 1196–1197 – Medieval Latin suma “sum of money” is recorded at Torcello.^[2]
• 13th century – Garzo uses somma for the result of an addition.^[2]
• 1305–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for “perfection, summit”.^[2]
• Before 1313 – Cecco Angiolieri uses it for a sum of money.^[2]
• Before 1315 – Bonvesin de la Riva uses it for “substance, gist”.^[2]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani has the verb sommare.^[2]
• 1670 – Francesco Lana uses somma for the operation of addition.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mathematics) The sum, the result of an addition: La somma di 4 e 6 è 10.^[4][12][9]
2. Addition, the operation itself: Il bambino sta imparando a fare le somme.^[4][9]
3. The whole formed by many parts, even unlike ones; the total.^[4][12]
4. An amount of money, often a large one: Ha prestato una grossa somma all'amico.^[4][12][9]
5. (pharmacology) A combination of two drugs whose joint effect is equal to or less than that of each one.^[4][12]
6. (figurative) The essential point, the gist or upshot of something.^[4][9]
7. A medieval treatise expounding a whole body of doctrine, a summa: la Somma teologica.^[9]

Word family

• sommare
• sommario
• assommare
• insomma
• sommista
• semisomma

Related words

• sommatoria
• sommo
• summa

Usage notes

Tirare le somme means to add up, and figuratively to draw conclusions.^[13][14] Somma is also the feminine of the adjective sommo (somma importanza) and a form of the verb sommare (“he adds”, “add!”).^[9][15] GDLI also lists somma as an old spelling of soma “load”.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3540
11. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ 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
13. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org