ragione Italian · revision 37574

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=12th century, Sermoni gallo-italici (as rasun)|origins=la reor}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /raˈd͡ʒo.ne/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ragione''' ''f'' (plural ragioni)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old forms include ''rascione'' and ''rasgione''.^(Wiktionary)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) Northern texts of the 13th century have ''rasone'', ''raxone'' and ''raxon''.^(Prati 1951|820)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|ratiō|t=reckoning, account; reason]], from its accusative.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The Latin noun is formed on [[m|la|ratus|t=counted, fixed]], the past participle of [[m|la|reor|t=to count, think]].^(DELI 1999)^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) The same word gave [[fr|raison]], [[pro|razó]], [[ca|raó]], [[es|razón]] and [[pt|razão]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) [[razione]] is a learned doublet.^(Wiktionary)^(Körting 1907)

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+ The ⟨gi⟩ of the Italian word is not the Tuscan outcome of Latin ⟨ti⟩.^(Nocentini 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary) Nocentini and Sabatini–Coletti see a northern, Gallo-Romance treatment of the cluster, and Devoto a northern form later made Tuscan.^(Nocentini 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Devoto 1968|361) Wiktionary explains it in the same way: the regular Tuscan form would have been [[roa-oit|razzone]], found in some archaic Roman texts, and Tuscan writers took northern [[roa-oit|rason]] for the outcome of a Latin ⟨si⟩, as in [[fagiolo]].^(Wiktionary) Prati, on the other hand, held that the word is a native form, not a loan from French, like [[pregio]] and [[palagio]].^(Prati 1951|820)

+

+ De Vaan takes the original sense of [[m|la|reor|alt=rērī]] to be “to count”, kept in [[m|la|ratus|alt=ratus]] “counted, legal”, and reconstructs the root [[ine-pro|*Hreh₁-]]; its further connections are uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is the form ''rasun'' in the Gallo-Italic sermons of the 12th–13th century: ''la bestia … non à rasun'', “the beast has no reason”.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) In Tuscan, ''ragione'' as the faculty of thought is in Bono Giamboni, before 1292.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The Latin word first meant “account, reckoning”, as in ''reddere rationem'' “to render account”, and Italian ''ragione'' kept this sense in book-keeping, whence [[ragioniere]] and [[ragioneria]].^(DELI 1999) From “account” it moved to “justification”, “cause, motive”, and to the faculty that grasps the order of things, as Latin ''ratio'' translated Greek ''lógos''.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ In Old Italian ''ragione'' also meant a speech or argument (Tommaso Galliziani, about 1250: ''di dire mia ragione'', “to tell my reason”), a cause or motive (the ''Novellino'', ''rascione'' already in Ugurgieri Apugliese), and right, justice or jurisdiction (Giovanni Villani).^(DELI 1999) The sense “justice” survives in names such as the ''Palazzo della Ragione'', the old seat of the courts.^(Zingarelli 2010) The mathematical senses, proportion (1590) and the common ratio of a progression (before 1572), came later.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ''Ragion di Stato'' “reason of State” echoes Cicero's ''ratio reipublicae'' and appears in Guicciardini (1521–1523); Giovanni Botero used it as a title in 1589.^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|3198) ''Ragione sociale'', a firm's name, copies [[fr|raison sociale]], and ''a più forte ragione'' is also modelled on French.^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) German borrowed ''Ragione'' for a trading firm in 1712.^(DIFIT) The verb [[ragionare]] “to reason” came to mean simply “to talk” in Italian and Ladin.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 12th–13th century – ''Rasun'' appears in the Gallo-Italic sermons.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * First half of the 13th century – ''Rascione'', “cause”, in Ugurgieri Apugliese.^(DELI 1999)

+ * About 1250 – Tommaso Galliziani uses ''ragione'' for an argument.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses ''ragione'' for the faculty of thought.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it for a right or competence.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1521–1523 – Guicciardini speaks of the ''ragione'' of States.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1589 – Giovanni Botero uses ''ragion di Stato'' in the title of a work.^(DEI|3198)

+ * 1712 – German borrows ''Ragione'' for a trading firm.^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|reason]], the human faculty of thinking logically and judging: ''perdere l’uso della ragione''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(philosophy)'' Reason as understood by a particular thinker (Aquinas, Kant, Hegel).^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # An argument put forward to convince; often plural, one's case: ''ascoltare le ragioni di tutti''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # A cause, [[m|en|motive]], ground: ''per ragioni di lavoro''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Being right: ''avere ragione'', to be right, ''dare ragione a qualcuno'', to agree that someone is right.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Gabrielli 2020)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(dated)'' Right, justice; competence: ''a chi di ragione'', to whom it may concern.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(mathematics)'' A ratio, proportion; the common [[m|en|ratio]] or difference of a progression: ''in ragione di'', in proportion to.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''ragione sociale'': the registered name of a firm.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ragionare]]

+ * [[ragionamento]]

+ * [[ragionevole]]

+ * [[ragionevolezza]]

+ * [[ragioniere]]

+ * [[ragioneria]]

+ * [[ragionato]]

+ * [[sragionare]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[razione]]

+ * [[razionale]]

+ * [[raziocinio]]

+ * [[la|ratiō]]

+ * [[fr|raison]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Ragione'' drops its final vowel in some fixed phrases: ''a ragion veduta'' “after careful thought”, ''ragion di Stato'', ''ragion d'essere''.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010) ''Di santa ragione'' means “soundly”, of a beating.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}