tentativo Italian · revision 39192

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1553|origins=la tentō}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ten.taˈti.vo/^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''tentativo''' ''m'' (plural tentativi)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la-lat|tentātīvus|t=trying, testing]], a learned word: the Latin adjective was used as a noun in Italian.^(GDLI|20)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary) GRADIT calls the source Medieval Latin, Sabatini–Coletti and the GDLI Late Latin.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(GDLI|20) Several dictionaries simply derive it from [[m|it|tentare|t=to try]], to which it belongs.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020)^(Nocentini 2010)

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+ The Latin adjective is formed from [[m|la|tentō|t=to try]] with the suffix [[m|la|-īvus]].^(Wiktionary) Sabatini–Coletti describes [[tentare]] as an iterative of [[m|la|tendō|t=to stretch]].^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Zingarelli dates the noun 1553;^(Zingarelli 2010)^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) DELI and GRADIT have it first in Oudin's dictionary of 1640 and in Galileo, who died in 1642, in the sense of a trial or attempt to succeed in something.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) Galileo speaks of “the last attempt of its strength”, testing a small anchor with weights.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861|4, 1424) Annibal Caro, in the 16th century, already uses it for a cautious approach to a delicate request.^(GDLI|20)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 17th century the noun was used for political and military enterprises: Paolo Sarpi calls a French envoy's mission in the Low Countries ''gran tentativo'', and Gualdo Priorato writes of armies facing each other for three weeks “without other attempts”.^(GDLI|20) Paolo Segneri used it for an attempt at wrongdoing, and in criminal law ''tentativo'' became the technical name of an attempted crime, an act aimed at a crime that is not completed or does not produce its effect.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861|4, 1424)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

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+ In everyday Italian it is now a basic word: ''al primo tentativo'' “at the first try”, ''per tentativi'' “by trial and error”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011) The GDLI also records a rare literary adjective ''tentativo'' “hypothetical”, used by Primo Levi, and an obsolete medical one, “probing”.^(GDLI|20)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1553 – Zingarelli's date for the first record.^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ * 16th century – Annibal Caro uses ''tentativo''.^(GDLI|20)

+ * 1640 – The word is in Oudin's dictionary.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * Before 1642 – Galileo uses it.^(DELI 1999)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861|4, 1424)

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+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An [[m|en|attempt]], a try or effort to achieve something whose success is not certain: ''Dopo tre tentativi ha rinunciato.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(law)'' An attempted crime: an act aimed at committing an offence that is not completed or fails to cause the intended result: ''tentativo di furto''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tentare]]

+ * [[la|tentativus]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Nel tentativo di'' with an infinitive means “in an attempt to”.^(Devoto–Oli 2026) In criminal law a ''tentativo compiuto'' is one in which the act was carried out but the result did not follow, a ''tentativo incompiuto'' one in which the act was not finished.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}