opportunità Italian · revision 38528

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1304–1308, Dante (as opportunitate)|origins=la opportunus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /op.por.tu.niˈta/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''opportunità''' ''f'' (invariable)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old Italian also had [[m|roa-oit|opportunitade]] and [[roa-oit|opportunitate]].^(GDLI)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|opportūnitās|t=fitness, convenience; favourable occasion]], a learned word.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The Latin noun is formed from [[m|la|opportūnus|t=suitable, convenient]] with the suffix [[m|la|-tās]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) The adjective is probably made of [[m|la|ob|t=towards]] and [[m|la|portus|t=harbour]], and was in origin a sailors' word for a wind that carries a ship towards port.^(OLD 2012)^(Wikizionario) Italian [[opportuno]] continues the same adjective.^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Dante uses the older form ''opportunitate'' in the ''Convivio'' (1304–1308) for the quality of being timely or fitting: he speaks of the Romans acting “according to the ''opportunitade'' of the time”.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI)^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By about 1350 the Tuscan translation of Pietro de' Crescenzi used the word for a favourable circumstance, a suitable time or place to do something, which is its main sense today.^(DELI 1999) The shortened form ''opportunità'' replaced ''opportunitate'' in the 16th century;^(DELI 1999)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) DELI's first example is from Iacopo Nardi, before 1563.^(DELI 1999)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) Boccaccio could also use it for a need, even a bodily one, a sense the modern dictionaries label old.^(Treccani 2011)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ''Pari opportunità'', equal treatment of men and women in education and work, is a loan translation of English ''equal opportunity''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1304–1308 – Dante has ''opportunitate'' in the ''Convivio''.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * c. 1350 – The Italian Crescenzi uses it for a favourable occasion.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1563 – Iacopo Nardi writes the modern form ''opportunità''.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The quality of being [[opportuno|alt=opportune]] or fitting; [[m|en|advisability]], timeliness: ''Discutiamo ancora sull'opportunità di vendere la casa.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # An [[m|en|opportunity]], a favourable [[occasione|alt=occasion]] or chance: ''Non ho mai avuto l'opportunità di ringraziarla.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(rare)'' Advantage, usefulness.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(obsolete)'' Need, necessity.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[opportuno]]

+ * [[la|opportunus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Opportunità'' is invariable: ''le opportunità''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) Zingarelli distinguishes it from ''occasione'', which stresses the chance nature of the circumstance.^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}