vicenda

Forms

vicenda f (plural vicende)^[1] Old forms include vixenda and vizenda.^[2] Old Sicilian has vichenda (1348).^[3]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Vulgar Latin *vicenda, a neuter plural used as a noun: the gerundive of a verb *vicere formed from Latin vicis (“change, turn, alternation”), the word that gave vece.^[4][5][6][7] In Devoto's explanation it first meant “the things destined to follow one another in turn”, then, understood as a feminine singular, “the whole of things that follow one another”.^[4][7] Medieval Latin vicenda meant land cultivated in rotation at Farfa in 956.^[4][3]

Northern Italian has the word in the sense “business”, as in Old Lombard vezenda and Modenese and Romagnol forms.^[8][3]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *wik- (“turn”), a root De Vaan connects with vinciō (“to tie”);^[9] Wiktionary relates it to German Wechsel (“change”) and English week.^[1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli dates the word to before 1243, and Nocentini to the first half of the 13th century.^[11][5] Thirteenth-century records include the letter-writing manual of Guido Faba, which speaks of one's own affairs (vixende), and the translation of Albertano, where it means “requital”.^[2][3] DELI's first certain example is Giovanni Villani, before 1348, for a series of events that follow one another;^[4] Dante's use is unclear.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word for a turn, a duty that falls to each in turn (Dante's chi vicenda consegue), for a requital, and in Boccaccio for a piece of business: io vo infino a città per alcuna mia vicenda.^[6][12][11] These senses are now archaic.^[12] From the alternation of things came a vicenda, “in turn, mutually”, and the derivative vicendevole (1341–1342, Boccaccio).^[4][12]

In agriculture the word means crop rotation (1871–1892), as in risaia in vicenda.^[4][13] The modern main sense, an event or chain of events in someone's life, and the plot of a story, is recorded from 1807 in the Milanese press.^[4][6]

Timeline

• 956 – Medieval Latin vicenda “land under rotation” is recorded at Farfa.^[4]
• Before 1243 – Zingarelli's date for the first record.^[11]
• Before 1311 – The verb avvicendare is recorded.^[5]
• 1341–1342 – Boccaccio uses vicendevole.^[4]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses vicenda for a succession of events.^[4]
• 1807 – The sense “event, affair” appears in the Milanese press.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An event, an affair, or a series of events in the life of a person or a people: La vicenda si è conclusa con un processo.^[6][12][14]
2. The plot or story of a novel, play or film.^[6][12]
3. (uncommon) alternation, the succession of things that take turns, as the seasons.^[6][12][14]
4. (agriculture) crop rotation.^[6][12][14]
5. (archaic) A turn, what falls to each in turn; a requital; a piece of business.^[12][14][6]

Word family

• vicendevole
• avvicendare
• avvicendamento

Related words

• vece
• vicissitudine
• Latin vicis

Usage notes

A vicenda means “each other, mutually” (si aiutano a vicenda) or “in turn” (guidare a vicenda).^[12][13][11] Alterne vicende are ups and downs.^[11][15]

References

1. ^ a b c 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, p. 21, 848
3. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4047
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
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. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli