adoperare

Forms

adoperare (first-person singular present adòpero, first-person singular past historic adoperài, past participle adoperàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] The syncopated form adoprare is recorded before 1347 and is now literary.^[2][3][4] There were also Old Italian aoperare and Old Italian aoprare, and northern Old Italian adovrare.^[5][6][7]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin adoperāre, a Latin verb recorded once, in a participle form, in Solinus in the 3rd century.^[7][1][8] Nocentini and Devoto–Oli give it as Vulgar Latin *adoperāre, and Sabatini–Coletti and Zingarelli as Medieval Latin.^{[9][10][3][4]} DELI and GRADIT instead see an Italian formation: for them it is from Italian operare with the prefix ad-, which strengthens the sense.^[2][11]

The verb survives only in Gallo-Romance and Italian: Old French aovrer, Old Occitan azobrar and, without the first vowel, Romansh duvrar.^[7][12][9] The LEI explains the kept unstressed ⟨e⟩ between the secondary and the main stress by the influence of the noun opera, and the forms that keep the ⟨d⟩ before ⟨o⟩ by learned influence.^[7] In adoprare the short pretonic vowel has fallen.^[3]

adoperō is formed from ad- (“to”) and operor (“to work”), which comes from opera (“work, effort”).^[1][13][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Ritmo su Sant'Alessio, a poem from the Marche of the second half of the 12th century.^[14] DELI dates the same poem to the early 13th century and gives its sense as “to act, to work”.^[14][2] In 1219 a Medieval Latin document from Venice has adhovrare, a technical term for finishing cloth.^[2][6] The sense “to use, employ” is first recorded in Brunetto Latini, who died in 1294.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb for carrying out or producing something, for acting or working in a field, for a force that has its effect, and for making use of a thing; the reflexive meant to busy oneself, to strive.^[14] Dante has Eunoè, which non adopra / se quinci e quindi pria non è gustato (“does not work its effect unless it is first tasted on both sides”).^[4] The reflexive “to busy oneself” is recorded at the end of the 13th century, in Soffredi del Grazia.^[2]

In 1584 Salviati wrote that adoprare was used mostly in verse and seldom in prose.^[2] Tommaseo added in the 19th century that it then sounded easier in speech, while adoperare suited weighty writing better.^[2] The sense “to act” is now archaic.^[11][3] Leopardi still wrote vi sono molti che pensano e adoprano diversamente (“there are many who think and act otherwise”).^[11][3] In modern Italian adoperare is a basic word for using a tool, a means or a person, and adoperarsi means to do one's utmost for a cause.^[11][10][15]

Timeline

• Second half of the 12th century – The Ritmo su Sant'Alessio uses the verb in the sense “to act”.^[14]
• 1219 – Medieval Latin adhovrare is recorded at Venice.^[2]
• End of the 13th century – Soffredi del Grazia uses the reflexive, “to busy oneself”.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses adoperare for “to use”.^[2][11]
• Before 1347 – Bartolomeo da San Concordio has the form adoprare.^[2][7]
• 1584 – Salviati notes that adoprare belongs mainly to verse.^[2]
• Before 1704 – Adoperabile “usable” appears in L. Bellini.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To use or employ a thing for a purpose: Per aprire la cassetta ho adoperato un cacciavite.^{[11][10][3][4]}
2. (transitive) To employ a person, to make use of someone's work.^[11][10][15]
3. (intransitive, archaic) To act, to work; the same as operare.^{[11][3][4][16]}
4. (reflexive, adoperarsi) To strive, to do one's utmost for someone or something: Si è adoperata a lungo per trovare un alloggio ai rifugiati.^{[10][3][4][16]}

Word family

• adoperabile
• adoperamento
• adoperatore
• riadoperare

Related words

• operare
• opera
• adoprare
• Old French aovrer

Usage notes

Set phrases include adoperare il cervello “to use one's head, to think” and adoperare le mani or il bastone “to come to blows, to beat someone”.^[11][17][16] The form adoprare is literary; the present is adòpero, or adòpro from that form.^[3][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 e f g h i j Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 24
6. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 64
7. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 779
8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
9. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d e 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 c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
15. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli