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unito

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Pronunciation

Forms

unito (feminine unita, masculine plural uniti, feminine plural unite, superlative unitissimo)[1]

Etymology

It is the past participle of unire (“to unite, join”), used as an adjective.[2][3][4][5] The verb, recorded before 1306 in Iacopone, comes from Latin ūnīre (“to unite”), from ūnus (“one”), and with its participle ūnītus it spread to all the Romance languages.[2][3] Nocentini classes it as a borrowing from Latin; the same verb is French unir and Spanish unir.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record of the adjective is Dante, before 1321, in the sense “compact, dense”.[2] In Paradiso 2 the eternal pearl of the Moon receives Dante into itself as water takes in a ray of light “permanendo unita” (remaining whole).[6]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the Italian Crescenzi uses unito for a peach grafted onto a willow and grown together with it, and Leonardo argues that no element weighs within its own element when it is unito.[6] The moral sense “bound by a strong spirit of solidarity” is recorded in Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger in 1612.[2] Tommaseo's dictionary (1879) has the sense “plain, without patterns”, the source of in tinta unita, and the use in the names of unions and confederations of states.[2]

That use gave Stati Uniti, Regno Unito and Nazioni Unite.[7][4][5] In geometry a line or plane is unita when a transformation maps it onto itself.[7][8]

Timeline

  • Before 1306 – Iacopone uses the verb unire.[2]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses unito “compact”.[2]
  • 1612 – Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger uses it for a group bound by solidarity.[2]
  • 1879 – Tommaseo records the senses “plain, without patterns” and its use in the names of unions of states.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Joined, fixed together: due banchi uniti per fare un tavolo.[4][5][9]
  2. compact, without gaps or divisions; of fabric, closely woven: I manifestanti avanzavano uniti.[4][5][9]
  3. Of people, close-knit, bound by affection or solidarity: È una squadra molto unita.[7][4][5]
  4. Of colour or fabric, plain, without patterns: una camicia in tinta unita.[7][9][8][1]
  5. In the names of unions of states and international bodies: gli Stati Uniti, il Regno Unito, le Nazioni Unite.[7][4][5]
  6. (mathematics) Of a point, line or plane, mapped onto itself by a transformation.[7][4][8]

Noun

  1. (religion) A Uniate Christian.[7][9][10]

Word family

  • unitamente
  • unitezza

Usage notes

Old Italian had another, unrelated unito “dishonoured, disgraced”, which DEI dates to the 14th century.[11][12] In the Libro di motti Ugolino explains that “to say unito in French is to say vituperato” (shamed).[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 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 d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  6. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21
  7. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  8. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  9. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  10. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  11. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3954
  12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca