Etymologically
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test

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Pronunciation

Forms

test m (invariable)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English test, an unadapted loan.[2][3][4][1] The English word comes from Old French test (“pot”), from Latin testum (“earthenware pot, lid”), the same word as Italian testo in the sense of an earthenware dish.[3][4][5][6] In English (from 1386) it first meant the earthenware vessel in which alchemists assayed the purity of gold; psychologists took it up around 1890, after James McKeen Cattell, for a question that measures intelligence.[2][7][8]

Bruno Migliorini and the psychologist Sante De Sanctis proposed reattivo instead, and the adaptation “testo” was also suggested, but the short English word resisted every replacement.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the word to 1766, in Saverio Bettinelli's Lettere inglesi, where a self-satisfied provincial poet becomes il test delle lettere, the touchstone of literature.[4][8]

Semantic evolution

The modern use begins at the end of the 19th century: Nocentini and Devoto–Oli date it to 1895, when an encyclopaedia used it for a trial or assay.[3][5][2] The psychological test is recorded in 1914 (Tanzi and Lugaro), and in 1940 Jacono complained of this “blatant Anglicism”.[2][8] From 1960 it also names an exam question with only one correct answer, and test attitudinali “aptitude tests” are recorded in 1963.[2]

Today it is used for any trial or experiment, from nuclear tests to pregnancy tests and statistical tests.[4][9] The verb testare is recorded in 1973, and tester, from the English verb, in 1940.[3]

Timeline

  • 1766 – Saverio Bettinelli uses test for a standard of comparison.[4][8]
  • 1895 – It is used for a trial in an encyclopaedia.[2][3]
  • 1914 – Tanzi and Lugaro use it for a psychological test.[2]
  • 1940 – Tester is recorded.[3]
  • 1942 – Migliorini proposes reattivo in its place.[2]
  • 1960 – It is used for an exam question with one right answer.[2]
  • 1973 – The verb testare is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A test, trial or experiment to assess something: un test sulla qualità dell'acqua.[4][9][6]
  2. (psychology) A standardized test of a person's mental abilities, aptitudes or personality.[4][5][10]
  3. An examination made of a series of questions, each with several answers of which only one is right: il test d'ingresso all'università.[4][5][9]
  4. (medicine) A diagnostic test: test di gravidanza.[4][5][6]
  5. (statistics) A procedure for accepting or rejecting a hypothesis from a sample.[4]
  6. (figurative) A trial of someone's worth: le elezioni regionali saranno un test per la maggioranza.[9][10]

Word family

  • testare
  • tester

Usage notes

The word is invariable: un test, due test.[1][5] Treccani records an uncommon adapted form teste.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3772
  8. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  9. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  10. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli