agitare

Forms

agitare (first-person singular present àgito, first-person singular past historic agitài, past participle agitàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin agitō (“to set in motion, shake, drive”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Latin verb is the frequentative of agō (“to drive; to do”).^{[2][3][4][6][7]} In the political sense “to stir up” the verb and agitatore are calques of English agitate (in this sense from 1822) and agitator (1780).^[2][8]

The inherited form survives only in the dialects of Abruzzo and Calabria, as in Scanno ⟨ayitá⟩ “to rock (a cradle)”; elsewhere the word is learned, as in French agiter (from 1515), Catalan agitar (from 1803), Spanish agitar (from 1428) and Portuguese agitar.^[9][3]

This verb goes back to Proto-Italic *ag-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- (“to drive, lead”); it is related to Ancient Greek ἄγω (ágō, “to drive, lead”) and Old Norse aka (“to ride”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Florentine poet Chiaro Davanzati, in the second half of the 13th century, with the sense “to move about in a disorderly way”, also figuratively.^[5][9] Old Italian also used it in law for bringing a case or debating a question in court.^[5] Petrarch writes Agitandomi venti e 'l ciel e l'onde, “tossed by winds and sky and waves”.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

DELI dates the transitive sense “to move to and fro, shake hard” from Boccaccio (1340–1342), “to debate a question” from Machiavelli (1500) and “to move, excite, trouble” from Tasso (1578).^[2] The reflexive agitarsi “to move restlessly” is found in Giordano da Pisa around 1306, and “to become upset” in Parini (1793).^[9][2] Monti uses it for urging on horses: agitava i destrieri il grande Ettorre.^[4][8]

The political senses came at the end of the 18th century: “to stir to revolt” in 1798, and agitarsi for political or social protest in Colletta, before 1831.^[2] The same happened in French, which has agiter le peuple from 1798.^[9] Among the derivatives, agitazione (before 1600) took the sense of political or trade-union action in 1797, and agitatore (1624, Galileo) the sense of a political agitator in 1798 and of a device for keeping liquids stirred in 1865.^[2] In the 20th century agit-prop was formed for the agitation and propaganda sections of the Communist federations.^[12]

Timeline

• Second half of the 13th century – Chiaro Davanzati uses agitare.^[5]
• About 1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses the reflexive agitarsi.^[9]
• 1340–1342 – Boccaccio uses the verb for moving and shaking.^[2]
• 1500 – Machiavelli uses it for debating a question.^[2]
• 1578 – Tasso uses it for stirring the feelings.^[2]
• 1797 – Agitazione is used for political action.^[2]
• 1798 – The verb is used for stirring people to revolt.^[2]
• 1865 – Agitatore is recorded for a stirring device.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To shake, move to and fro with force: Il barista agitò lo shaker per un minuto.^{[4][8][13][1]}
2. (transitive) To wave a handkerchief or the hand in greeting; to wag a tail.^[4][14][1]
3. (transitive, figurative) To trouble, excite or make nervous: L’attesa dei risultati la agitava.^{[4][8][13][1]}
4. (transitive, figurative) To debate or examine a question.^[4][8][15]
5. (transitive, figurative) To incite people to protest or revolt: agitare le masse.^{[4][8][13][1]}
6. (transitive, literary) To urge horses on.^[4][8]
7. (pronominal) agitarsi: to move about restlessly; of the sea or trees, to toss and become rough.^[8][13][14]
8. (pronominal) agitarsi: to get worked up, be anxious.^[8][14][15]
9. (pronominal) agitarsi: of workers or a people, to take part in protest or industrial action.^[8][14][15]

Word family

• agitato
• agitazione
• agitatore
• agitabile
• agitamento
• agitatrice
• riagitare

Related words

• agitazionismo
• agire
• esagitare
• cogitare
• Latin agitō
• French agiter

Usage notes

Zingarelli distinguishes agitare, shaking a container to mix its contents, from sbattere, beating a liquid with a fork or whisk.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
9. ^ 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, 1331
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 90
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 c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana