possibilità Italian · revision 37846

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1304–1308, possibilitade|origins=la possibilis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /pos.si.bi.liˈta/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''possibilità''' ''f'' (invariable)^(Wiktionary)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ The old forms are ''possibilitade'' and ''possibilitate''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a learned word, [[bor|la-lat|possibilitās|t=possibility]], from [[la|possibilis|t=possible]] (see [[possibile]]) with the suffix [[m|la|-tās]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(GDLI)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ GRADIT's first date is 1304–1308, for the old form ''possibilitade'', and Nocentini dates the word to the early 14th century.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Nocentini 2010) DELI's first record, Bartolomeo da San Concordio before 1347, has the sense “capacity, power”.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In 1353 Boccaccio used the word, chiefly in the plural, for the material or moral means one has, a sense still current (''secondo le proprie possibilità'').^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) The abstract “condition of being possible” is first recorded in Varchi, before 1565.^(DELI 1999) An old translation of Saint Bernard speaks of the “possibilità di peccare”, the possibility of sinning.^(GDLI) In Kant's philosophy ''possibilità'' is one of the three categories of modality.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1304–1308 – ''Possibilitade'' is recorded.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * Before 1347 – Bartolomeo da San Concordio uses ''possibilità'' for “capacity”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1353 – Boccaccio uses it for one's means.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1565 – Varchi uses it for “the condition of being possible”.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|possibility]], the chance that something may happen: ''C'è la possibilità che il treno arrivi in ritardo.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Feasibility, the fact that something can be done.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # An [[m|en|opportunity]], the means or occasion to do something: ''Non ho avuto la possibilità di salutarla.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(chiefly plural)'' Means, resources, abilities: ''vivere al di sopra delle proprie possibilità''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(DELI 1999)

+ # ''(philosophy)'' In Kant, one of the categories of modality.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[impossibilità]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[possibile]]

+ * [[potere]]

+ * [[la|possibilis]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}