contingenti

Contingenti is an Italian term used as both a noun and an adjective with several related senses. As a noun it most commonly designates a group assigned to a mission or task, especially a military unit. For example, i contingenti italiani refers to Italian contingents deployed in international operations. More generally, a contingente can be any group or delegation sent to participate in a collective effort, such as aid contingents, disaster-response contingents, or diplomatic contingents. As an adjective, contingente means dependent on something else and not inherent or necessary; it is used to describe contingent events or conditions, such as eventi contingenti or condizioni contingenti.

In philosophy and related disciplines, contingente is used to distinguish beings or propositions whose existence or truth is not logically necessary from those that are necessary. In Italian philosophical writing one might encounter the distinction between ente contingente and ente necessario, roughly corresponding to contingent versus necessary beings.

Etymology and usage notes: contingenti derives from Latin contingens, the present participle of contingere, meaning to touch upon, to happen. The form is the plural noun i contingenti or the masculine plural adjective contingenti, depending on grammatical function in a sentence. The word is also found in legal, military, and organizational contexts to denote groups that are mobilized or dispatched for specific tasks.

See also: contingency, contingent (philosophy).