Etymologically
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utile

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Pronunciation

Forms

utile m or f by sense (plural utili, superlative utilissimo)[1] Old Italian also had ùtole and ùttile.[2][3] Giovanni Villani uses utole as a noun.[4]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin ūtilis (“usable, useful”), from the accusative ⟨ūtilem⟩.[5][6][7][1] The Latin adjective is formed from ūtor (“to use”).[5][6][1] Devoto compares the formation of agilis from agō and facilis from faciō.[8] Early Latin inscriptions still write oitile, and de Vaan traces the verb to Proto-Italic *oit- (“to use”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *h₃eit- (“to fetch, take along”).[9] DEI also points to French utile, recorded in the 12th century.[3] The same word is Spanish útil.[6]

The modern derivatives came by other routes: utilitario adapts English utilitarian, coined by Jeremy Bentham in 1781, and utilizzare is from French utiliser (1792), while utilizzo is an Italian deverbal noun.[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Dante's Vita nuova (1293–1294), for anything that serves or can serve a need.[5][7] The GDLI's first quotation is earlier, in Francis of Assisi's Canticle of the Creatures, which praises “sister water” as multo utile et humile et pretiosa et casta (“very useful and humble and precious and chaste”).[2]

Semantic evolution

Giordano da Pisa used the adjective for “ready, fit” in 1305–1306, and Boccaccio for what serves a particular purpose.[5] The noun came in the 14th century: Giovanni Villani used it for an advantage, material or moral, before 1348, and Boccaccio for the profit made by trade.[5][4] Applied to a person who contributes effectively to something, the adjective is recorded by Tommaseo in 1879.[5]

The Latin noun utilitās gave utilità, which a Sienese letter of 1260 writes utulità.[5] In the 20th century utilitaria became the name of a small, cheap car (1938), and economics uses utile for the excess of revenue over costs.[5][7]

Timeline

  • 1219 – Utilità “benefit” appears in the Breve di Montieri.[5]
  • 1293–1294 – Dante uses utile in the Vita nuova.[5]
  • Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses the noun for “advantage”.[5]
  • 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses the noun for a commercial profit.[5]
  • 1802 – Utilizzare is recorded, after French utiliser.[5]
  • 1857 – Utilitario is first recorded.[5][6]
  • 1938 – Utilitaria is recorded for a small economical car.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Useful, that serves a need or purpose: Un coltellino è sempre utile in campeggio.[7][10][11]
  2. Beneficial, advantageous, helpful (+ a, per): Questi esercizi sono utili per la schiena.[7][10][11]
  3. Of a person, helpful, contributing effectively: Posso esserle utile?[7][10][11]
  4. Usable within given limits, as in tempo utile (the time within which something can validly be done) and spazio utile.[7][12][13]

Noun

  1. What is useful, an advantage or benefit, material or moral: Pensa solo al proprio utile.[7][11]
  2. (economics) Profit, the excess of revenue over costs: L'azienda ha chiuso l'anno con un utile netto.[7][11]

Word family

  • utilità
  • inutile
  • utilizzare
  • utilizzo
  • utilizzabile
  • utilizzazione
  • utilitario
  • utilitaria
  • utilitarismo
  • utilmente

Usage notes

Common phrases are unire l'utile al dilettevole (to combine business with pleasure), rendersi utile (to make oneself useful), voto utile (a tactical vote) and utile idiota (a useful idiot).[7][11][13] In sports reports a risultato utile is a win or a draw.[10][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  3. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
  4. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  10. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  11. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  12. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana