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allontanare

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word allontanare

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
late 13th century, Parafrasi del Decalogo (Bergamo)
Ultimate origin
Vulgar Latin *longitānus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Italian lontano
Italian allontanare

Pronunciation

  • /al.lon.taˈna.re/[1]

Forms

allontanare (first-person singular present allontàno, first-person singular past historic allontanài, past participle allontanàto, auxiliary avére)[1] Northern texts have Old Italian aluytanare (Bergamo, late 13th century) and Old Italian aloitanar (Bonvesin de la Riva, Milan).[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian a- + lontano + -are, a parasynthetic verb in which the prefix strengthens the sense: “to make far”.[2][4][5][1]

The adjective lontano (“far, distant”) continues Vulgar Latin *longitānus.[2][4][1] DELI builds it on the adverb Latin longiter (“far; for a long time”), while Nocentini derives it from longus (“long; distant”) with the suffix -itānus, which in Latin formed names of the inhabitants of a place.[2][4] The same formation gave French lointain and Occitan lonhdan.[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Bergamasque Parafrasi del Decalogo of the late 13th century, which warns that adultery makes two souls sin “e da l'amor de Cristo i fa aluytanare”, and makes them go far from the love of Christ.[6][3][2] The TLIO defines the early verb as putting oneself or something at a distance, real or figurative, from a place or a person, and so separating or turning away.[3]

Semantic evolution

The Tuscan form allontanare is first found in Boccaccio, about 1336.[2][5] Petrarch used it figuratively: “questa sola dal vulgo m'allontana”, this alone sets me apart from the crowd.[6][7] Tommaseo's dictionary noted that allontanare implied a greater distance than rimuovere, and in the figurative sense a greater estrangement of feeling.[7]

The noun allontanamento is recorded from Galileo (1624); an older example said to come from a book of sermons, quoted by the Crusca, Tommaseo and the GDLI, is almost certainly a forgery.[2] In modern Italian the verb also means to dismiss someone from a post, to ward off a danger and, of a person's manner, to put others off.[5][8][9]

Timeline

  • Late 13th century – Aluytanare appears in the Parafrasi del Decalogo (Bergamo).[2][3]
  • Before 1315 – Bonvesin de la Riva writes aloitanar.[2]
  • c. 1336 – Boccaccio uses allontanare.[2][5]
  • 1624 – Allontanamento is recorded in Galileo.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To move away, put or take far from something: Allontana il bicchiere dal bordo del tavolo.[5][8][10]
  2. (figurative) To avert, ward off: allontanare il rischio di una crisi.[5][8][10]
  3. To set apart from one another, separate: Hanno allontanato i fratelli per farli smettere di litigare.[5][8][10]
  4. To send away, drive away; to dismiss from a post or office.[5][8][9]
  5. To exclude, estrange: Le loro idee politiche li hanno allontanati.[5][10]
  6. To put people off, inspire dislike: La sua arroganza ha allontanato anche i vecchi amici.[5][8][11]
  7. (reflexive, allontanarsi) To go away, move off; to be absent for a while; figuratively, to drift away from someone or from an idea.[9][11][12]

Word family

  • allontanamento
  • riallontanare

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  7. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  8. ^ a b c d e f 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 Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  10. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
Cite this entry

“Allontanare.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/allontanare. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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