conseguenza Italian · revision 39018

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1282, Restoro d'Arezzo|origins=la cōnsequor}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /kon.seˈɡwɛn.t͡sa/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''conseguenza''' ''f'' (plural conseguenze)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old Italian also wrote [[m|roa-oit|consequenza]] and [[m|roa-oit|conseguenzia]].^(TLIO) The spelling with ⟨qu⟩ survived into the 17th century and is now archaic.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|cōnsequentia|t=succession; logical consequence]], a learned word.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) DEI and the GDLI describe it as an adaptation of the Late Latin word, whose classical meaning was “succession, progression”.^(DEI|1067)^(GDLI) The Latin noun is formed from [[m|la|cōnsequēns|t=following]], the present participle of [[m|la|cōnsequor|t=to follow closely; to obtain]], a compound of [[m|la|con-]] and [[m|la|sequor|t=to follow]].^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ The older form [[m|roa-oit|consequenza]] kept the Latin consonant.^(DELI 1999) The form with ⟨gu⟩ was remade on the Italian verbs [[conseguire]] and [[seguire]], as Devoto, Devoto–Oli, Sabatini–Coletti and Zingarelli point out.^(Devoto 1968)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010) The TLIO, for its part, treats the word as a derivative of the Italian verb.^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is in Restoro d'Arezzo's treatise on the composition of the world (1282), where the word names an effect produced by an earlier event, or what a premise implies.^(TLIO)^(Zingarelli 2010) DELI dates ''consequenza'' to Dante (before 1321) and ''conseguenza'' to the ''Ottimo commento'' on the ''Commedia'' (14th century).^(DELI 1999) In the ''Paradiso'' Beatrice tells Dante that he will see a “wonderful correspondence” (''mirabil consequenza'') between each heaven and the intelligence that moves it.^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old Italian used the word for an effect, for the relation of logical dependence between statements, and in the adverbial phrase ''per conseguenza'' “as a result”.^(TLIO) The ''Ottimo commento'' already argues that if a principle is corrupt its consequences must be corrupt too.^(GDLI) In the 16th and 17th centuries the word could also mean “importance”: Sarpi writes of a matter of great moment that could bring great ''consequenze'', and Galileo speaks of works of no less ''conseguenza''.^(GDLI)^(Zingarelli 2010) That sense is now archaic, like the sense “succession, sequence”, which Tommaseo still records beside a musical one, a fugue.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ In the plural the word now usually refers to bad results: one pays the consequences of one's mistakes.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011) In logic it names the relation between premises and the proposition that follows from them.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses the word in his ''Composizione del mondo''.^(TLIO)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ * Before 1321 – Dante writes ''consequenza'' in the ''Paradiso''.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI)

+ * 14th century – The ''Ottimo commento'' has the form ''conseguenza''.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI)

+ * 17th century – Galileo uses the word for “importance”.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|consequence]]: what follows logically from a premise, or results from an event: ''La chiusura della strada è una conseguenza della frana.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(chiefly plural)'' A bad [[m|en|effect]] or after-effect: ''Il paese ha pagato a lungo le conseguenze della crisi.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(logic, philosophy)'' The relation between one or more propositions taken as premises and another that follows from them.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(archaic)'' [[importanza|alt=Importance]], weight: ''una faccenda di poca conseguenza''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[inconseguenza]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[conseguire]]

+ * [[conseguente]]

+ * [[seguire]]

+ * [[la|consequentia]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Di conseguenza'' and ''per conseguenza'' mean “consequently, therefore”;^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011) ''in conseguenza di'' means “as a result of, because of”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}