accorgersi

Forms

accorgersi or accórgersi (first-person singular present mi accòrgo or mi accórgo, first-person singular past historic mi accòrsi or mi accórsi, past participle accòrtosi or accórtosi)^[1] Old Italian forms include acorgersi, and in the north acorgerse (Venetian, 1321) and acorzere (Vicentine).^[2] Modern dialect forms include Venetian acorzerse and Sicilian accòrgirisi.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *accorrigere, formed with the prefix ad- on Latin corrigō (“to straighten, correct”).^[3][4][5][1] Sabatini–Coletti explains the loss of the vowel from the first person singular, where the unstressed /i/ was lost, extended to the whole conjugation.^[6] The past participle accorto is formed like porto from porgere.^[3]

The meaning is explained in two ways: DEI, DELI, Nocentini and Meyer-Lübke start from the reflexive “to correct oneself”, that is, to give up a false impression after looking at the facts.^[3][4][7][6] The LEI rejects this step and starts from “to direct”, strengthened by the prefix to “to escort, watch over” and so “to pay attention, notice”, the same development as scorgere and scortare from another compound of the Latin verb.^[2]

The verb is typical of Italian, with Friulian akuarzisi and Romansh s'inakörger of the Engadine beside it.^[2][7] Medieval French accort and accortesse are borrowed from Italian.^[2] The Latin verb is a compound of regō (“to direct”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to stretch, direct”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio from the Marche, of the second half of the 12th century, in the reflexive sense of perceiving something with the senses or the mind, realising a situation.^[9] DELI first finds it in Dante's Vita nuova (1293–1294), for seeing, knowing or understanding.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb also meant “to catch sight of” and, without the pronoun, “to escort”, and the infinitive used as a noun, l'accorgere, meant insight, discernment (Dante, Petrarch).^[9][2] The derivatives kept the old sense of watchfulness: accorto “shrewd, wary” (before 1257, Bonagiunta), accortezza (before 1347) and accorgimento, “perception” (before 1292) and then “skill, device” (before 1321, Dante).^[3][4]

In the Venetian area, Friuli and Istria the type inaccorgersi is used.^[2] In modern Italian senza accorgersene means without noticing, or without effort, and te ne accorgerai! is a veiled threat.^[5][10]

Timeline

• Second half of the 12th century – The Ritmo di Sant'Alessio uses the verb.^[9]
• Before 1257 – Bonagiunta uses accorto “shrewd”.^[3]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses accorgimento.^[3]
• 1293–1294 – Dante uses accorgersi in the Vita nuova.^[3]
• 1321 – Old Venetian acorgerse is recorded.^[2]
• Before 1347 – Accortezza appears in Bartolomeo da San Concordio.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To notice, to become aware of someone or something not seen or known before, followed by di or che: Si accorse solo a casa di aver lasciato l'ombrello in treno.^{[5][10][11][1]}
2. To realise, to understand something through reflection: Mi accorgo ora che avevi ragione.^{[5][6][12][1]}

Word family

• accorto
• accortezza
• accorgimento
• raccorgersi

Related words

• correggere
• scorgere
• scortare

Usage notes

Accorgersene is common: senza accorgersene means without noticing, or without effort, and te ne accorgerai! (you'll see!) is a veiled threat.^[5][10][11] The past participle is accorto and the past historic mi accorsi.^[10][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 321
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana