Etymologically
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termine

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈtɛr.mi.ne/[1]

Forms

termine m (plural termini)[1] Old forms include termino (Old Pisan, 13th century), termene and tiermine.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin termen (“boundary stone”), through a Vulgar Latin accusative *termĭnem that took the place of classical terminus (“boundary”).[5][6][1] The same word is French terme, Occitan terme, Catalan terme, Portuguese termo, Sardinian termene and Romanian țărm (“shore”); Spanish término is learned.[5][7] DELI instead calls the Italian word learned, from terminus.[8]

Latin terminus and the rarer termen go back to Proto-Italic *termenos and Proto-Indo-European *térmn̥ (“boundary”); Ancient Greek τέρμα (térma, “goal”) and τέρμων (térmōn, “border”) are cognate.[1] Nocentini notes that the masculine stood for the sacred boundary, personified in the god Terminus, and the neuter for the material stone or post.[5] DELI and the GDLI mention the view that the Italic word was borrowed from Greek.[8][3]

The sense “word, term” comes from the grammarians of Late Latin, who used terminus on the model of Ancient Greek ὅρος (hóros), which meant both “boundary” and “definition, term of a proposition”.[8][5] DELI gives this sense a separate heading.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the word to 1295, and Sardinian termen is already in a 12th-century charter.[6][8] DELI's first sense is “boundary of an estate or territory”, in Dante's line on the Quarnero gulf “that closes Italy and bathes its borders” (che Italia chiude e i suoi termini bagna).[8][9][10]

Semantic evolution

Dante also used the word for the end of something and for the goal one aims at.[8] The legal sense, the moment from which the effects of an agreement begin or cease, is in the statutes of the Calimala guild (1332–1337), and the time limit in Machiavelli (before 1527).[8] A termine was also the stone, tree or ditch that marked a boundary, and in art a herm.[2][4]

The sense “word” appears in Savonarola (before 1460), and Lionardo Salviati (1584) used it for the special vocabulary of a science or art and for a term of a proposition.[8] Mezzi termini, “half measures, evasions”, comes from logic, where the middle term of a syllogism stands between the two others.[8] Terminologia (1829) was at first called clumsy by Tommaseo.[8][5] In the plural termini are also the terms and conditions of something (1891).[8] Common phrases include a breve, medio and lungo termine, contratto a termine, in altri termini and ai minimi termini; in grammar the complemento di termine is the indirect object.[6][11][10]

Timeline

  • 12th century – Sardinian termen appears in a charter.[8]
  • 1295 – GRADIT's first date for termine.[6]
  • 1300–1313 – Dante uses it for a boundary.[8]
  • 1332–1337 – The statutes of the Calimala guild use it in the legal sense.[8]
  • Before 1460 – Savonarola uses it for a word.[8]
  • Before 1527 – Machiavelli uses it for a time limit.[8]
  • 1584 – Salviati uses it for a technical term.[8]
  • 1829 – Terminologia is recorded.[5][8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. end, the point where something ends in space or time: Al termine della riunione siamo andati a cena.[12][13][6]
  2. deadline, time limit: Il termine per pagare scade venerdì.[6][12][13]
  3. (law) The moment from which the effects of a legal act begin or cease.[6][11]
  4. (literary, usually plural) boundary, border; a boundary stone or post.[6][12][10]
  5. (plural) The terms, conditions or limits of something: Non conosco ancora i termini dell'accordo.[13][6]
  6. A stage or point reached; an aim.[6][13]
  7. A word or expression, especially one proper to a science or art: È un termine della chimica.[8][13][1]
  8. (mathematics, logic) A term of an expression, a fraction or a syllogism.[1][2][14]

Word family

  • terminologia
  • terminologico
  • terminismo
  • terminare
  • terminale
  • terminazione
  • Latin terminus
  • Spanish término

Usage notes

DELI treats “boundary, end” and “word” as two headwords, but they are the same Latin word, the second sense coming from the first.[8][5] Mezzi termini (half measures) and ai minimi termini (at its lowest ebb) are set phrases.[8][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3759
  3. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  4. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  10. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  11. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  12. ^ 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
  13. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli