Etymologically
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tentare

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Pronunciation

  • /tenˈta.re/[1]

Forms

tentare (first-person singular present tènto or ténto, first-person singular past historic tentài, past participle tentàto, auxiliary avére)[1] Old forms include Old Italian temptare and Old Italian tenctare.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin temptō (“to touch, to feel; to test; to attack”),[3][4][1][5] in its late and popular form without /p/.[6][7][8] DELI, Sabatini–Coletti and GDLI explain that form by confusion with tentō (“to stretch out”), the frequentative of tendō (“to stretch”), and Treccani thinks the verbs merged already in Latin.[6][8][2][9] Körting puts the Romance verbs under the frequentative.[10] The same verb is French tenter, Occitan tentar, Catalan tentar, Spanish tentar and Portuguese tentar.[7][10]

The origin of temptō is uncertain.[6][2] Nocentini and Devoto take it as a frequentative of the root of tendō, Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”), extended with -p- as in Lithuanian tempti (“to stretch, to pull”), with the sense “to stretch out the hands”.[7][11] De Vaan likewise sees in it an iterative built on a past participle meaning “touched”, from a root *temp- (“to stretch”).[12]

The sense “to lead into sin” comes from the Gospels, where the verb renders Ancient Greek πειράζω (peirázō, “to test, to try”).[7] DELI adds that the Christian writers made the Latin noun for “tempter” an epithet of the devil.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Iacopone da Todi, who died in 1306, in the sense “to put to the test”, and GRADIT dates that sense to the same time;[6][3][13] DEI finds the verb in the 13th-century Fiore d'Italia.[6][3][13]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses the verb for a light touch, quando il mio duca mi tentò di costa, “when my guide touched me on the side”, and for touching to test a hold, Ma tenta pria s'è tal ch'ella ti reggia, “but first try whether it is such as to bear you”.[6][14][9] The sense “to try to corrupt, to lead into evil” appears in Passavanti in 1354, “to try to succeed in something” in Boccaccio (1348–1353), “to try out, to experiment” in 1545, and “to attract, to lure” in Davanzati before 1600.[6]

Today “to try, to attempt” is the main sense, with set phrases such as tentare la sorte and the proverb tentar non nuoce, “there's no harm in trying”.[4][9] Derivatives include tentazione and tentatore (14th century), tentoni “gropingly” (a tentone in Boccaccio) and tentativo (Galileo, before 1642), which had been an adjective in Late Latin.[6][7] Albanian borrowed the verb as Albanian tentoj.[1]

Timeline

  • 13th century – DEI finds tentare in the Fiore d'Italia.[13]
  • Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses it for “to put to the test”.[6]
  • 1300–1313 – Dante uses it for “to touch lightly”.[6]
  • 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for “to try to succeed”.[6]
  • 1354 – Passavanti uses it for “to lead into evil”.[6]
  • 1545 – The sense “to try out, experiment” is recorded.[6]
  • Before 1642 – Galileo uses tentativo.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To try, to attempt (+ di and infinitive): Ho tentato di chiamarti tre volte, ma il telefono era spento.[3][4][8][1]
  2. To try out a means, to attempt something: I medici tenteranno un intervento molto delicato.[3][4][8]
  3. To tempt, to try to lead into sin or wrongdoing: Nel deserto il diavolo tentò Gesù.[3][9][5][1]
  4. To attract, to entice: L'idea di un viaggio in Islanda mi tenta parecchio.[3][8][1]
  5. To feel, to probe the ground or the bottom by touching.[3][8][14]
  6. (literary) To touch lightly; to touch the strings of an instrument.[3][14][5][1]
  7. (literary) To sound someone out, to question them about their intentions.[3][14][9]

Word family

  • tentativo
  • tentazione
  • tentatore
  • tentabile
  • tentoni
  • ritentare

Usage notes

Set phrases include tentare la sorte or la fortuna, to try one's luck, and tentarle tutte, to try everything; the proverb tentar non nuoce means “there's no harm in trying”.[4][9] The verb takes avere; the present is tènto, with ténto as a variant.[1][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  9. ^ a b c d e f Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  10. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  13. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3752
  14. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli