abituare

Forms

abituare (first-person singular present abìtuo, first-person singular past historic abituài, past participle abituàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word: it is borrowed from Late Latin habituō (“to bring into a condition”), a Late Latin verb that DEI finds in Caelius Aurelianus.^[2][3][1][4] Sabatini–Coletti, Zingarelli and Gabrielli give the Late Latin verb in its deponent form, which Sabatini–Coletti glosses “to be in a condition, to be provided”.^[5][6][7] The TLIO notes that the Italian verb may instead be a back-formation from the participle abituato.^[8]

The Latin verb is formed on Latin habitus (“state, condition; bearing; habit”), the noun of habeō (“to have, hold”).^[3][9][1] DEI compares French habituer, recorded from the 14th century.^[4] The Latin verb was also borrowed as Spanish habituar and Portuguese habituar.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Jacopo Alighieri's commentary on the Inferno (1322), in Florentine, used reflexively for taking up a habit or a settled way of behaving.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

The first uses are reflexive, abituarsi, “to grow used to”, while the transitive use, “to accustom someone”, is dated by DELI to the 16th century, in Lorenzo Giacomini, who speaks of accustoming the intellect.^[2][5][10] Boccaccio's commentary on Dante uses ci abituiamo ne' peccati, “we grow used to sin”.^[11][10] In Old Italian the participle abituato also meant “dressed in a habit”: in Dante, seven figures erano abituati like the first company.^[12]

The GDLI notes that the modern use of the verb widened under the influence of French.^[10] Purists long preferred the native avvezzare: a purist writer quoted by the GDLI granted that abituare had good precedents but still asked for avvezzare when speaking of training the young.^[10] GRADIT now counts abituare among the basic words of Italian.^[3]

Timeline

• 1322 – Jacopo Alighieri uses the verb in his commentary on the Inferno.^[2][8]
• 16th century – Lorenzo Giacomini uses it transitively, “to accustom”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To accustom, habituate: to make someone take up a habit, with a and a noun or an infinitive: Ha abituato il cane a dormire fuori.^[3][9][6]
2. (reflexive, abituarsi) To get used to something, to become accustomed: Mi sono abituato al traffico della città.^[9][6][13]
3. (reflexive, abituarsi) To adapt, to adjust to a new situation: Non riesce ad abituarsi alla nuova casa.^[13][7]

Word family

• abituato
• disabituare
• riabituare
• abituazione

Related words

• abito
• abitudine
• abituale
• Latin habitus

Usage notes

The present is stressed on the root: io abìtuo, noi abituiàmo.^[9][6][7] Assuefare and avvezzare are synonyms; the opposite is disabituare.^[6][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 11
5. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
8. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 1, 46
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana