Etymologically
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weekend

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Pronunciation

Forms

weekend m (invariable)[1] Also written week-end.[1][2][3] The English plural weekends is also used.[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English weekend, a compound of week and end.[6][7][2][4] DELI dates the English phrase to 1638, while GRADIT and the GDLI date it to 1878.[6][2][8] The Italian fine settimana is a calque of it.[6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in 1905, in Alfredo Panzini's dictionary of new words, both for the end of the week and for a short holiday on Saturday and Sunday.[6][7]

Semantic evolution

In 1919 a correspondent of La Stampa in Paris still explained the word as what the English call the end of the week, when in general nothing is done.[6] The calque fine settimana followed by 1932;[2][4][6] Heinimann noted that the two are not quite interchangeable in meaning and style.[2][4][6] The derivative weekendista, one who goes away for the weekend, appears in the press in the 1960s.[6]

Moravia, Vittorini and Pasolini used the word in its written form week-end.[8]

Timeline

  • 1638 – DELI's date for the English phrase.[6]
  • 1878 – GRADIT's and the GDLI's date for English week-end.[2][8]
  • 1905 – Panzini records week-end in Italian.[6][7]
  • 1919 – La Stampa explains the word to its readers.[6]
  • 1932 – Fine settimana is recorded.[2]
  • 1964 – Weekendista appears in the Corriere della Sera.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The weekend, Saturday and Sunday as days free from work: Ci vediamo nel weekend.[2][4][5]
  2. A short holiday taken at the weekend: Sono partiti per un weekend in montagna.[3][5]

Word family

  • weekendista

Usage notes

The word is masculine and usually invariable (i weekend), though the English plural weekends is also found.[3][4][5] It is pronounced /wiˈkɛnd/, with the stress on the second syllable.[1][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ 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, 1033
  9. ^ Canepari, Luciano, DiPI: Dizionario di pronuncia italiana, online ed., dipionline.it