parente Italian · revision 39093

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1250, Cielo d'Alcamo|origins=ine-pro *perh₃-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /paˈrɛn.te/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''parente''' ''m or f'' by sense (plural parenti)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ DELI calls it a learned word, [[bor|la|parēns|t=parent]] (accusative [[m|la|parēns|alt=parentem]]).^(DELI 1999)^(Zingarelli 2010) Nocentini counts it among the inherited words found across the Romance languages.^(Nocentini 2010) The Latin word meant “father or mother”, and in Late Latin also “relative”.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)^(GDLI) DELI quotes the jurist Gian Vincenzo Gravina, who found in Tertullian, Vopiscus and Jerome that ordinary people and soldiers already used [[m|la|parēns|alt=parentes]] for the whole family, as Italian does.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The same word is [[fr|parent]] (plural [[m|fr|parents|t=parents]], whence [[en|parents]]), [[oc|paren]], [[ca|paren]], [[es|pariente]], [[pt|parente]] and [[sc|parente]]; [[ro|părinte]] has kept the sense “parent”.^(Nocentini 2010)^(Körting 1907)

+

+ The Latin word is in origin the present participle of [[m|la|pariō|t=to give birth to, bear]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003) De Vaan thinks it may preserve an old root aorist of the verb, from [[ine-pro|*perh₃-|t=to provide, bring forth]].^(de Vaan 2008) Devoto instead links it with a verb meaning “to produce”, close to [[m|la|parō|t=to prepare]].^(Devoto 1968)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is in the ''Contrasto'' of Cielo d'Alcamo, before 1250, in the sense “relative, someone bound to another by kinship”.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The Latin sense “parent” is found in Giordano da Pisa, before 1311, and in Dante, whose Virgil says “li parenti miei furon lombardi” (“my parents were Lombards”).^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) It is now only literary;^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011) ''i primi parenti'' are Adam and Eve.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011) Petrarch, before 1374, extended the word to a thing very like another, calling sleep “parente de la morte”, the kinsman of death.^(DELI 1999)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ Derivatives are old: ''parentado'' “kinship; relatives” (''parentatu'' in the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio, early 13th century), and ''parentela'' (1304–1308, Dante).^(DELI 1999) The proverb ''parenti serpenti'' warns that relatives are not to be trusted.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) In drug users' slang a ''parente'' is a dealer.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Before 1250 – Cielo d'Alcamo uses ''parente'' for a relative.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1243 – ''Parentado'' “kinship” is recorded in Guido Faba.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1304–1308 – Dante uses ''parentela''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1311 – Giordano da Pisa uses ''parente'' for a parent.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1374 – Petrarch uses it for something closely akin to another thing.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|relative]], a person related by blood: ''È un mio parente da parte di madre.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(by extension)'' A relative by marriage or adoption, ''parente acquisito'', an [[m|en|in-law]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A thing closely akin to another.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(literary)'' A [[m|en|parent]]; an ancestor.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(slang)'' A drug [[m|en|dealer]].^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[parentado]]

+ * [[parentela]]

+ * [[parentale]]

+ * [[apparentare]]

+ * [[apparentamento]]

+ * [[imparentare]]

+ * [[monoparentale]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[genitore]]

+ * [[genitrice]]

+ * [[partorire]]

+ * [[la|parēns]]

+ * [[fr|parent]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Parente'' is a false friend of English ''parent'': the Italian for “parents” is ''genitori''.^(Wiktionary)^(GRADIT 2003) Degrees of kinship are expressed as ''parente stretto'' or ''prossimo'' (close relative) and ''parente lontano'' or ''alla lontana'' (distant relative).^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}