talento Italian · revision 38885

+ Italian has two words spelled ''talento'', both from Latin ''talentum'': the ancient weight and coin, a learned word, and “desire; gift, ability”, which came through Occitan or French.^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|3703) DELI and DEI number them 1 and 2;^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|3703)^(GRADIT 2003) GRADIT treats them as one.^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|3703)^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ {{homograph|1|ancient weight and coin}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=14th century|origins=grc τάλαντον}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /taˈlɛn.to/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''talento''' ''m'' (plural talenti)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The weight is a learned word, [[bor|la|talentum|t=a talent, a weight; a sum of money]], [[bor|grc|τάλαντον|tr=tálanton]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(DEI|3703) The Greek word meant “balance, the scale of a balance”, then “weight” and “sum of money”; the money sense prevailed in Italian because of the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14–30.^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|3703)

+

+ The Greek word is related to [[m|la|tollō|t=to lift]] and comes from [[ine-pro|*telh₂-|t=to bear, to lift]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|3703)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI's first records are 14th-century: the Zibaldone Andreini, an Italian translation of Ovid and Jacopo Passavanti.^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|3703)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Domenico Cavalca and Boccaccio used it in retelling the gospel parables of debt and of the talents.^(GDLI|20, 693) In historical writing the word names the Greek unit of 60 minas, whose weight varied with place and time, and the coin of Greece and Palestine.^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 14th century – ''Talento'' “Greek weight” in Passavanti and the Ovid translation.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(history)'' A [[m|en|talent]], an ancient unit of weight used by the Greeks, Babylonians and Hebrews.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(history)'' A coin of ancient Greece and Palestine, of varying value.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ {{homograph|2|desire; gift, ability}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=late 12th century, Ritmo di Sant'Alessio|origins=grc τάλαντον}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /taˈlɛn.to/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''talento''' ''m'' (plural talenti)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The sense “desire” came from Occitan or French: DELI and the GDLI see it as [[bor|pro|talen]] or [[fro|talent|t=desire, will]], from the same [[la|talentum]].^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI|20, 693)^(Wiktionary) Bembo already recognised the Occitan origin, and the word was common in the poetry of the Sicilian school.^(DELI 1999) DELI suggests two routes for the sense: the Greek meaning “inclination (of a balance)”, kept in Provence, where Greeks had settled, or a metaphor drawn from the gospel parable.^(DELI 1999) Nocentini, DEI and Prati derive both “desire” and “gift” from the parable, in which a master gives his servants talents according to their ability.^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|3703)^(Prati 1951|971) Meyer-Lübke also finds the Romance spread clearly due to the parable, and doubts a direct descent from Greek in Provence.^(REW 1935)

+

+ Migliorini described the history as two waves of the figurative use: “desire, will”, spread from Provence in the Middle Ages, and “natural or acquired aptitude”, which appeared here and there in Italy and France but became common only in the Renaissance.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) Irish glosses of the 7th–8th century already have [[sga|talland]] “faculty of the mind”.^(DEI|3703)^(Prati 1951|971)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is in the ''Ritmo di Sant'Alessio'' (late 12th century, Marche), in the sense “desire, strong wish”: ''lu su talentu condonanno''.^(TLIO)^(GDLI|20, 693) DELI dates “desire” to Iacopo Mostacci (13th century) and “intelligence, ability” to Brunetto Latini (before 1294).^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old Italian ''talento'' meant desire or will and formed many phrases: ''avere in talento'' “to want”, ''essere a talento'' “to please”, ''contro talento'' “unwillingly”, and ''mal talento'' “ill will”.^(TLIO)^(DEI|3703) Dante wrote that the lustful “subject reason to desire” (''che la ragion sommettono al talento'').^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ The sense “ability” was condemned by the purists in the 19th century, and Galileo had avoided the word.^(DELI 1999) It prevailed nonetheless, and, from Italian came French ''talent'' “ability” (17th century) and ''talentueux''.^(DEI|3703) By extension ''talento'' names a gifted person.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 12th century – ''Talentu'' “desire” in the ''Ritmo di Sant'Alessio''.^(TLIO)

+ * 13th century – Iacopo Mostacci and Cielo d'Alcamo use ''talento'' “desire”.^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|3703)

+ * Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for “ability”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1294 – ''Talentare'' “to please” is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * Before 1742 – Fagiuoli uses ''talentaccio''.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|talent]], a marked natural gift or ability: ''Ha talento per il disegno.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # A talented person: ''Quella ragazza è un vero talento.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(literary)'' Desire, will: ''andare a talento'', to please.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(literary)'' Disposition, mood.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[talentoso]]

+ * [[talentare]]

+ * [[talentaccio]]

+ * [[maltalento]]

+ * [[attalentare]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|talentum]]

+ * [[fr|talent]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}