abbreviare

Forms

abbreviare (first-person singular present abbrèvio, first-person singular past historic abbreviài, past participle abbreviàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word: it is borrowed from Late Latin abbreviō (“to shorten”), recorded from the 4th century and formed from ad- and breviō (“to shorten”), from Latin brevis (“short”).^[2][3][4][1] Old Tuscan and some rural Tuscan speech of today have Old Italian abbrevare.^[5]

The Latin verb continues, as a learned word, in Old French abrevier, Old Occitan abreviar, Catalan abreviar, Spanish abreviar, Portuguese abreviar, Friulian abreviá and Romansh abbrevier.^[4][6] French abréger and abreujar are semi-learned forms of the same word.^[5][6] The adjective goes back to Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus (“short”).^[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record, from the late 13th century, is in the Tesoro volgarizzato, with the sense “to make shorter”: Dèi tu abbreviare tuo conto, il più breve che tu puoi (“you must shorten your account as far as you can”).^[2][8] The TLIO's first record is in the 13th-century Abruzzese Proverbia pseudoiacopone.^[9]

Semantic evolution

From the start the verb was used of speech and writing: Bono Giamboni has it in 1292 for summing up laws and sentences, and late 13th-century and 14th-century texts use it intransitively for “to say in few words”.^[4] The Old Italian phrases abbreviando la novella and ad abbreviarla meant “to cut a long story short”.^[9] Of time it meant “to grow shorter” (1380, Caterina da Siena), and the pronominal abbreviarsi “to become shorter” is in the 14th-century Crescenzi translation.^[4]

The sense “to write or say a word in a shortened form” is recorded from 1688, and “to weaken” (strength, remorse) in Magalotti in 1712.^[4] From 1865 the verb is used in phonetics and metrics for making a long vowel short.^[4] The derivatives came early: abbreviamento before 1292, abbreviatura before 1304, abbreviazione in 1363, and abbreviatore before 1334, later the official of the papal chancery who drew up briefs.^[2] The dialects have the word too, as Piedmontese abreviè, Venetian abreviar and Sicilian abbreviari.^[4]

English abbreviate, from the mid-15th century, comes from the Latin past participle.^[10]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses abbreviamento.^[2]
• 1292 – Giamboni uses abbreviare for summing up laws.^[4]
• Late 13th century – the Tesoro volgarizzato uses abbreviare “to shorten”.^[2]
• 1301 – Venetian abreviacion is recorded.^[2]
• Before 1304 – abbreviatura is recorded.^[2]
• 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses the Umbrian abreviare.^[4]
• 1363 – abbreviazione is recorded.^[2]
• Mid-15th century – English abbreviate is recorded.^[10]
• Before 1571 – Cellini uses abbreviatore for an official of the papal chancery.^[2]
• 1688 – abbreviare is used of shortening a word.^[4]
• 1865 – the sense “to make a long vowel short” is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To shorten, make shorter in space or time: abbreviare il viaggio prendendo l'autostrada.^{[11][12][13][14]}
2. To abbreviate a word, writing or saying it in a shortened form, sometimes by its initial alone.^[11][13][14]
3. (prosody) In Greek and Latin metre, to make a long syllable short.^[11][14][15]
4. (absolute) To be brief, come to the point.^[15][16]
5. (pronominal, abbreviarsi) To become shorter: d'inverno le giornate si abbreviano.^[12][13][14]
6. (pronominal, phonetics) Of a vowel, to become short.^[12][17]

Word family

• abbreviamento
• abbreviativo
• abbreviatore
• abbreviatura
• abbreviazione
• abbreviabile

Related words

• breve
• Latin brevis
• English abbreviate

Usage notes

The present is abbrèvio, with the stress on the second syllable.^[12][13] The phrases per abbreviarla and ad abbreviarla mean “in short”.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 80
5. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 7
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 1, 33
9. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
17. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)