momento Italian · revision 37578

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1332, Maestro Alberto|origins=la moveō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /moˈmen.to/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''momento''' ''m'' (plural momenti)^(Wiktionary)

+ The old plural ''momenta'' (feminine) is also recorded.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(DEI|2491)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|momentum|t=movement, impulse; moment; weight, importance]], a learned word.^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|2491)^(GRADIT 2003) The Latin noun is contracted from [[m|la|*movimentum]], from [[m|la|moveō|t=to move]] and the suffix [[m|la|-mentum]].^(DELI 1999)^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) The same word gave [[fr|moment]], recorded from the 12th century, and [[es|momento]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|2491)

+

+ The Latin noun had already developed all the senses at the root of the modern ones: a slight movement, the small weight that tips a balance, a brief space of time, and influence or importance.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Treccani 2011) The physical sense of the 17th century goes back to the weight acting on the arm of a balance.^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is in Maestro Alberto, before 1332, in a definition of the instant: ''Momento è quello istante indivisibile per lo quale lo momento ch’ha da venire si congiunge con lo preterito'', “A moment is that indivisible instant through which the coming moment is joined with the past one”.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI|10, 750)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The old sense “movement” is recorded in Boccaccio and Guittone, and the plural ''momenta'' was in use too.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)^(DEI|2491) Francesco da Buti divided the hour into points, the points into moments and the moments into atoms.^(GDLI|10, 750) From the 17th century the word also meant “importance”, as in the literary ''di poco momento'' “of little importance”.^(DEI|2491)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ Galileo made it a term of physics, the force a weight acquires in moving towards the centre, and later physics extended it to the moment of a force and to momentum.^(DEI|2491)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) The sense “juncture, situation” is in Manzoni's ''I promessi sposi'' (1825–1827), and “opportunity” in Frugoni before 1768.^(DELI 1999) In recent political and journalistic language ''momento'' has also been used for an initiative, a use under discussion since 1990.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The adjective ''momentaneo'' “brief” dates from before 1498, from [[la-lat|momentaneus]], and ''momentaneamente'' “at the moment” from Mazzini.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Before 1332 – Maestro Alberto defines ''momento'' as the indivisible instant.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 14th century – ''Momento'' for a movement appears in Boccaccio.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+ * Before 1498 – ''Momentaneo'' is recorded in Vespasiano da Bisticci.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 17th century – Galileo uses the word in physics.^(DEI|2491)^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * Before 1768 – Frugoni uses it for “opportunity”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1825–1827 – Manzoni uses it for “juncture, situation”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1872 – ''Momentaneamente'' appears in Mazzini.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|moment]], instant, a very short space of time: ''Aspettami un momento.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''un momento!'': wait!, just a moment!, also to interrupt what is being said or done.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''un momento'' (adverbial): a little, slightly: ''spostati un momento più a destra''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # A period of time seen in terms of its circumstances; a phase: ''un momento delicato''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # The right time, the [[m|en|opportunity]]: ''non è il momento di scherzare''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(literary)'' Importance: ''cose di poco momento''.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(physics)'' A moment, the product of a quantity and a distance (''momento di una forza'', ''momento d'inerzia''); also [[m|en|momentum]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(statistics)'' A moment of a distribution.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(philosophy)'' Especially in Hegel, a stage or phase of a process of becoming.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[momentaneo]]

+ * [[momentaneamente]]

+ * [[momentaccio]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[muovere]]

+ * [[movimento]]

+ * [[la|momentum]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Common phrases are ''al momento'' “at present”, ''a momenti'' “any moment” or “almost” (''a momenti perdevo il treno''), ''dal momento che'' “since”, and ''da un momento all'altro'' “at any moment”.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}