crisi Italian · revision 39120

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=early 14th century, Zucchero Bencivenni|origins=grc κρίνω}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈkri.zi/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

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

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a learned word, [[bor|la|crisis|t=crisis of an illness]], [[der|grc|κρίσις|tr=krísis|t=separation, choice, judgement]], from [[m|grc|κρίνω|tr=krínō|t=to separate, to judge]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) In Greek medicine the word already meant the decisive turn of an illness, which gave the modern sense “difficult phase”.^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto 1968|124) DEI names the Late Latin medical writer Caelius Aurelianus as a source of the Latin word.^(DEI|1161) The Greek verb is related to [[la|cernō|t=to sift, distinguish]].^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ The same learned word is [[fr|crise]] (16th century) and [[es|crisis]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|1161) Older Italian also wrote ⟨crise⟩.^(Prati 1951|349)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI's first record is in Zucchero Bencivenni, at the beginning of the 14th century, with the medical sense “rapid change in the course of an illness”.^(DELI 1999) The TLIO finds it with the same sense in a 14th-century Tuscan translation of Mesue and in Gasparo da Verona.^(TLIO) A passage of Bencivenni warns not to stop a nosebleed that comes after the crisis.^(GDLI|3)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Berni joked in his ''Rime'' about the purge “that our doctors call ''crisi''”.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) The figurative sense “dangerous or decisive moment” appears in Guido Bentivoglio's letters, in the early 17th century, about “the crises of these movements”.^(Prati 1951|349)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)^(DELI 1999) DEI dates the moral sense to the 17th century and the political and economic senses to the 19th.^(DEI|1161) The sense “sudden, violent fit” is recorded in Foscolo in 1808.^(DELI 1999) In the 19th century Tommaseo complained that the moderns overused the medical word.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

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+ In modern Italian the word covers personal, social, political and economic difficulties: a ''crisi di governo'' is the fall of a cabinet, a ''crisi di coscienza'' a moral turmoil, and ''la grande crisi'' the depression that began in 1929.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011) The press of the 1980s coined ''crisi al buio'', a government crisis with no new majority in sight.^(GDLI|Supplemento 2009)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Early 14th century – Zucchero Bencivenni uses ''crisi'' for the turn of an illness.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Early 17th century – Guido Bentivoglio uses it for a decisive moment in politics.^(Prati 1951|349)^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1808 – Foscolo uses it for a sudden fit.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 19th century – Political and economic senses appear.^(DEI|1161)

+ * 1984 – ''Crisi al buio'' appears in ''la Repubblica''.^(GDLI|Supplemento 2009)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(medicine)'' A sudden change, for better or worse, in the course of an illness.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(medicine)'' A sudden attack or worsening of the symptoms of an illness: ''crisi epilettica''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # A sudden, violent outburst of feeling: ''crisi di nervi'', ''crisi di pianto''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # A situation of serious uncertainty, instability or difficulty, in a person's life or in a group: ''Il loro matrimonio sta attraversando una crisi.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Embarrassment, awkwardness: ''mettere in crisi'' “to put on the spot”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # A turning point, especially in the plot of a novel; a break with the past.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # ''(politics)'' The fall of a government, a [[m|en|cabinet]] crisis (''crisi di governo''); a serious international dispute.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(economics)'' A [[m|en|depression]] or [[m|en|slump]] of the economy, or of one sector of it: ''crisi economica'', ''crisi energetica''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[anticrisi]]

+ * [[precrisi]]

+ * [[crisaiolo]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[critico]]

+ * [[grc|κρίσις|tr=krísis]]

+ * [[fr|crise]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}