nipote Italian · revision 38495

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=late 12th century, Coltibuono document|origins=ine-pro *h₂népōts}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /niˈpo.te/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''nipote''' ''m or f'' by sense (plural nipoti, diminutive nipotìno m or nipotìna f, pejorative nipotàccio m or nipotàccia f)^(Wiktionary)

+ The literary and popular form is ''nepote''.^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011) Old Italian forms include ''nevodo'', ''nevode'', ''nievodi'' and ''niputi'', and Old Venetian had ''nievo''.^(TLIO)^(REW 1935)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|nepōs|t=grandson; nephew; descendant]], from the accusative [[m|la|nepōs|alt=nepōtem]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The same word is [[fr|neveu]], [[oc|nebot]], [[ca|nebot]], [[sc|nebode]], [[ro|nepot]] and [[scn|niputi]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(Wiktionary)^(REW 1935)

+

+ Latin [[m|la|nepōs]] meant both “grandson” and, later, “nephew”, and Italian has kept both senses, as Sardinian and Romanian have;^(Nocentini 2010) French and Spanish created new words for one of them.^(Nocentini 2010) The Latin word goes back to [[itc-pro|*nepōts]] and [[ine-pro|*h₂népōts]], a male descendant other than a son.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Cognates include [[sa|नपात्|tr=nápāt|t=descendant, grandson]], [[olt|nepuotis]], [[goh|nevo]] (whence [[de|Neffe]]) and [[ang|nefa]];^(Nocentini 2010)^(de Vaan 2008) [[en|nephew]] is a loan from French.^(Nocentini 2010)^(de Vaan 2008) Nocentini interprets the Indo-European word as a legal term, “one without power”, from a negative prefix and the root of [[potere]].^(Nocentini 2010) The Latin feminine [[m|la|neptis]] lived on in Vulgar Latin forms that gave [[fr|nièce]] and [[es|nieta]].^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ The pretonic ⟨e⟩ of the Latin word became ⟨i⟩, a tendency that Migliorini found already in the Edict of Rothari.^(DELI 1999) Devoto compares [[divoto]] beside Latin [[m|la|dēvōtus]].^(Devoto 1968)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is in a rent register of the abbey of Coltibuono from the end of the 12th century, where it cannot be told whether the word means “grandson” or “nephew”.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO)^(GRADIT 2003) The ''Novellino'' (late 13th century) has ''nepote'' for a brother's or sister's son.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Dante uses the word for a grandson, as in “he was grandson of the good Gualdrada” (''nepote fu della buona Gualdrada''), and in the plural for descendants.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI) Brunetto Latini calls the Gracchi the ''nepoti'' of Scipio Africanus.^(GDLI) The form ''nepote'' long remained literary;^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) Tommaseo noted that ''nipote'' was the more common form in Florentine speech.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ Derivatives include ''bisnipote'' (early 14th century, Boccaccio), ''nipotino'' (Ariosto), ''pronipote'' (15th century) and ''nepotismo'' (17th century), formed on ''nepote'' for the favour that popes showed their nephews and other relatives.^(Nocentini 2010)^(Prati 1951)^(DEI|2587) By extension the word is used for the spouse of a nephew or niece and for a cousin's child, and figuratively for a follower or heir of a thinker;^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011) ''i nipoti di Adamo'' are all mankind.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 12th century – ''Nipote'' appears in a document of the abbey of Coltibuono.^(TLIO)^(DELI 1999)

+ * Late 13th century – The ''Novellino'' has ''nepote'' “nephew”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1321 – Dante uses it for a grandson and for descendants.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Early 14th century – ''Bisnipote'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 15th century – ''Pronipote'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 17th century – ''Nepotismo'' appears in Sforza Pallavicino.^(DEI|2587)^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1846 – ''Nepotista'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|nephew]] or [[m|en|niece]], the child of one's brother or sister: ''Mia sorella ha due figli, quindi ho due nipoti.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # [[m|en|grandchild]], the child of one's son or daughter: ''La nonna passa le domeniche con i nipoti.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(by extension)'' The husband or wife of one's nephew or niece.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # ''(by extension)'' The child of one's cousin.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # ''(literary, in the plural)'' [[m|en|descendant|alt=Descendants]], posterity.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A follower or [[m|en|epigone]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[nipotino]]

+ * [[bisnipote]]

+ * [[nepotismo]]

+ * [[nepotista]]

+ * [[nepotistico]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pronipote]]

+ * [[la|nepōs]]

+ * [[fr|neveu]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ One word covers both the brother's or sister's child and the grandchild, as in Latin; only the context tells them apart.^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003) The word is masculine or feminine by sense: ''il nipote'', ''la nipote''.^(Wiktionary)^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}