destino Italian · revision 38482

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=before 1272, Re Enzo|origins=la dēstinō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /desˈti.no/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''destino''' ''m'' (plural destini)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old forms include [[roa-oit|distino]] and [[m|roa-oit|destin]].^(TLIO)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) An old plural ''le destina'' is recorded beside ''i destini''.^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|it|destinare|-o|t1=to destine, assign]], a noun formed in Italian from the verb with no suffix of its own, perhaps helped by [[fro|destin]], recorded from about 1160.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(LEI) DEI instead takes the Italian word straight from the French one, itself formed from [[m|fro|destiner]].^(DEI|1264) The verb is a learned borrowing of [[la|dēstinō|t=to fix, make fast; to determine]], formed with [[m|la|dē-]] on a stem related to [[m|la|stō|t=to stand]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ In Latin the verb meant to fasten something firmly, then to resolve on something and to settle it for good; the LEI, following De Felice, stresses that it had no religious or supernatural side, and that the noun arose in Italian for what is fixed beyond appeal and for the power that fixes it.^(LEI) The same back-formation is [[rm|destin]], [[fr|destin]], [[ca|destí]], [[es|destino]] and [[pt|destino]].^(LEI)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is a poem by Re Enzo written before 1272 in Tuscan: there ''destino'' is the fixed course of events, a universal force that does not depend on human will.^(TLIO) DELI dates the sense “one's lot, fortune” to the late 13th century.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Dante set the word beside chance and will: “Se voler fu o destino o fortuna, / non so” (“Whether it was will, or destiny, or chance, I do not know”, ''Inferno'' 32), and in a canzone of his exile he speaks of the “forza di destino” that may overturn the world.^(GDLI)^(DELI 1999) Tommaseo quotes Giovanni Villani, for whom ''il distino'' was ordained by God to punish sins.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) In the 16th century the stricter climate of the Counter-Reformation led to books being purged, and words such as ''destino'', ''fato'' and ''fortuna'' were sometimes cut or replaced by ''Provvidenza''.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The plural came to mean the future fortunes of peoples and nations.^(TLIO)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) From the 18th century the word also meant the place a letter or parcel is sent to, a use that survives in commercial language: ''porto di destino'', the port of arrival, and ''franco destino'', carriage paid to the destination.^(DEI|1264)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011) Common phrases are ''ironia del destino'' and ''è destino che…'', “it is bound to happen that…”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1160 – [[fro|destin]] is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1272 – Re Enzo uses ''destino'', the first Italian record.^(TLIO)

+ * Late 13th century – The sense “lot, fortune” appears.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1321 – Dante uses it for the fixed course of events.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1503–1536 – [[es|destino]] is recorded in Garcilaso.^(LEI)

+ * 16th century – Counter-Reformation censors sometimes replace ''destino'' with ''Provvidenza''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 18th century – The sense “destination, address” is recorded.^(DEI|1264)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|fate]], [[m|en|destiny]]: the course of events seen as fixed in advance and beyond human will, often thought of as a power: ''Crede che sia stato il destino a farli ritrovare dopo vent'anni.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # In ''è destino che'' (also ''era destino''): it is (was) inevitable that: ''Era destino che quel giorno piovesse.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # One's [[m|en|lot]], what happens or will happen to a person: ''Ha lasciato il cane al suo destino.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # (in the plural) The future fortunes of a people or a country.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(bureaucratic)'' [[m|en|destination]] of a letter, a parcel or a ship.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[destinare]]

+ * [[destinatario]]

+ * [[destinazione]]

+ * [[fr|destin]]

+ * [[la|dēstinō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}