esistere Italian · revision 37906

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1298, Questioni filosofiche|origins=la sistō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /eˈzis.te.re/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''esistere''' (first-person singular present esìsto, first-person singular past historic esistétti or (traditional) esistètti or esistéi, past participle esistìto, auxiliary èssere)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a learned word, [[bor|la|exsistō|t=to step out, emerge, appear; to exist]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The Latin verb is a compound of [[m|la|ex-|t=out]] and [[m|la|sistō|t=to stand, stop]], which Nocentini describes as the momentary counterpart of [[m|la|stō|t=to stand]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto 1968)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) The same Latin verb gave [[fr|exister]], recorded from the 14th century, and [[es|existir]].^(DEI|1537)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GDLI|5, 355)

+

+ The derived nouns are also learned: [[esistenza]] continues [[la-lat|exsistentia]], and [[esistenziale]] the Late Latin adjective [[m|la-lat|exsistentiālis]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is the ''Questioni filosofiche'' of about 1298, from south-eastern Tuscany, in the sense “to be real, to have actual existence”; the Old Italian texts mostly show the present participle ''esistente''.^(TLIO) DELI, by contrast, dates the verb only to Daniello Bartoli (before 1685), and rejects the 14th-century date that DEI took from a translation of Saint Augustine, because the edition used was unreliable.^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|1537) Zingarelli gives before 1342.^(Zingarelli 2010) The GDLI quotes Bartoli: “In Dio è necessario che l'esistere sia la medesima cosa coll'essere” (In God existing must be the same thing as being).^(GDLI|5, 355)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The sense “to be alive” is recorded in Giuseppe Baretti in 1779.^(DELI 1999) In the 19th century purists attacked ''esistere'' for ''vivere'' and ''esistenza'' for ''vita'' as Gallicisms: Tommaseo noted that ordinary people did not say ''ha cessato di esistere'' of someone who had died, and Panzini (1905) wrote that using the verb simply for “to be” was considered a French usage.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The derivatives came earlier than the verb's first sure date: ''esistenza'' in Giordano da Pisa (1304) and ''esistente'' in Domenico Cavalca (before 1342).^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) ''Esistenziale'' is recorded before 1764, and its philosophical use followed French ''existentiel'', which Bergson used in 1907;^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) ''esistenzialismo'' (1938, after German ''Existentialismus'') and ''esistenzialista'' named the 20th-century philosophy.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) In colloquial speech ''non esiste!'' means that something is absurd or out of the question.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * About 1298 – The verb appears in the ''Questioni filosofiche''.^(TLIO)

+ * 1304 – Giordano da Pisa uses ''esistenza''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses ''esistente''.^(DELI 1999)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ * Before 1685 – Daniello Bartoli uses ''esistere'', DELI's first record.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1779 – Giuseppe Baretti uses it for “to be alive”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1905 – Panzini lists its use for “to be” as a Gallicism.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1938 – ''Esistenzialismo'' is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(intransitive)'' To [[m|en|exist]], to be real: ''Secondo lui i fantasmi non esistono.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To be there, to be found, to [[m|en|occur]]: ''In quella regione esistono ancora molte specie rare.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' ''non esiste!'': no way, that is out of the question.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # To matter, to count: ''Per lei esiste solo la musica.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # To live, be alive, ''cessare di esistere'' means to die.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[esistente]]

+ * [[esistenza]]

+ * [[esistenziale]]

+ * [[esistenzialismo]]

+ * [[esistenzialista]]

+ * [[esistenzialistico]]

+ * [[inesistente]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[coesistere]]

+ * [[preesistere]]

+ * [[insistere]]

+ * [[resistere]]

+ * [[stare]]

+ * [[la|exsistō]]

+ * [[fr|exister]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Esistere'' takes ''essere'': ''sono esistite''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Wiktionary) The past historic is ''esistei'' or ''esistetti''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Wiktionary) It is also used as a masculine noun, ''l'esistere'', “existence”.^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}