questione Italian · revision 38037

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=late 13th century, Novellino|origins=la quaerō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /kwesˈtjo.ne/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''questione''' ''f'' (plural questioni)^(Wiktionary)

+ The older form ''quistione'' is now literary or Tuscan.^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) Gubbio has the Umbrian form ''chistione''.^(DEI|3178)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a learned word, [[bor|la|quaestiō|t=inquiry; matter in dispute]], from the past participle of [[m|la|quaerō|t=to seek; to ask]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) DEI calls it a learned word of philosophy and law.^(DEI|3178) The same Latin verb gave the inherited [[chiedere]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) The word is also [[fr|question]], recorded in the 12th century, and [[es|cuestión]].^(DEI|3178)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ [[questionario|alt=Questionario]] is [[fr|questionnaire]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is in the ''Novellino'', at the end of the 13th century, in the form ''quistione'', with the senses “problem, question” and “quarrel”.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) Brunetto Latini, before 1294, has it for a dispute or controversy.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 14th century the word had a wide range: doubt, investigation, a treatise in question form, a lawsuit or wrangle, and even judicial torture.^(DEI|3178) The political sense, a problem whose solution is debated, appears in the Milanese press in 1833 with ''la quistione belgio-olandese''; a 19th-century dictionary explains it as a grave and thorny matter that never finds a solution, citing the Italian, German and Eastern questions.^(DELI 1999) Many fixed phrases followed this model, among them ''questione meridionale'' and ''questione della lingua''.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ''Questione di lana caprina'' is a dispute over trifles, and ''questione di vita o di morte'' a matter of life and death.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 13th century – ''Quistione'' in the ''Novellino''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for a dispute, and ''questionare'' “to dispute”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 14th century – The senses “doubt”, “treatise”, “lawsuit” and “torture” appear.^(DEI|3178)

+ * 1833 – The political sense, ''la quistione belgio-olandese''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1882 – ''Questionario'' is first recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|dispute]] or debate: ''Sulla data del manoscritto la questione è ancora aperta.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # A matter or [[m|en|issue]] that needs to be examined: ''È una faccenda delicata, ne parleremo con calma.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A historical, social or political problem that is debated: ''la questione meridionale''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(DELI 1999)

+ # A quarrel, an argument: ''venire a questione con qualcuno''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An objection or doubt: ''mettere in questione''.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # ''essere questione di'': to be a matter of: ''Ormai è solo questione di tempo.''^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[questionare]]

+ * [[questionario]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[chiedere]]

+ * [[quesito]]

+ * [[la|quaestio]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''In questione'' means “in question, under discussion”, and ''fuori questione'' “out of the question”.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}