tentativo
Pronunciation
- /ten.taˈti.vo/[1]
Forms
tentativo m (plural tentativi)[1]
Etymology
It is borrowed from Late Latin tentātīvus (“trying, testing”), a learned word: the Latin adjective was used as a noun in Italian.[2][3][1] GRADIT calls the source Medieval Latin, Sabatini–Coletti and the GDLI Late Latin.[4][3][2] Several dictionaries simply derive it from tentare (“to try”), to which it belongs.[5][6][7][8]
The Latin adjective is formed from tentō (“to try”) with the suffix -īvus.[1] Sabatini–Coletti describes tentare as an iterative of tendō (“to stretch”).[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
Zingarelli dates the noun 1553;[9][10][4] DELI and GRADIT have it first in Oudin's dictionary of 1640 and in Galileo, who died in 1642, in the sense of a trial or attempt to succeed in something.[9][10][4] Galileo speaks of “the last attempt of its strength”, testing a small anchor with weights.[11] Annibal Caro, in the 16th century, already uses it for a cautious approach to a delicate request.[2]
Semantic evolution
In the 17th century the noun was used for political and military enterprises: Paolo Sarpi calls a French envoy's mission in the Low Countries gran tentativo, and Gualdo Priorato writes of armies facing each other for three weeks “without other attempts”.[2] Paolo Segneri used it for an attempt at wrongdoing, and in criminal law tentativo became the technical name of an attempted crime, an act aimed at a crime that is not completed or does not produce its effect.[11][5][3]
In everyday Italian it is now a basic word: al primo tentativo “at the first try”, per tentativi “by trial and error”.[4][6] The GDLI also records a rare literary adjective tentativo “hypothetical”, used by Primo Levi, and an obsolete medical one, “probing”.[2]
Timeline
- 1553 – Zingarelli's date for the first record.[9]
- 16th century – Annibal Caro uses tentativo.[2]
- 1640 – The word is in Oudin's dictionary.[10][4]
- Before 1642 – Galileo uses it.[10][11]
Meanings
Noun
- An attempt, a try or effort to achieve something whose success is not certain: Dopo tre tentativi ha rinunciato.[4][5][3]
- (law) An attempted crime: an act aimed at committing an offence that is not completed or fails to cause the intended result: tentativo di furto.[4][5][9]
Related words
- tentare
- Latin tentativus
Usage notes
Nel tentativo di with an infinitive means “in an attempt to”.[5] In criminal law a tentativo compiuto is one in which the act was carried out but the result did not follow, a tentativo incompiuto one in which the act was not finished.[9][4]
References
- ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 20
- ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
- ^ 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
- ^ 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
- ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
- ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
- ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
- ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
- ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
- ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET, p. 4, 1424