alzare

Forms

alzare (first-person singular present àlzo, first-person singular past historic alzài, past participle alzàto, auxiliary (transitive) avére or (intransitive archaic) èssere)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *altiāre (“to raise”), formed from Latin altus (“high”).^[2][3][4][1] The LEI derives the verb firmly from the comparative adverb altius (“higher”), as GDLI and DEI also do,^[5][2][6][7] and DEI notes that it is documented in Medieval Latin.^[7]

The verb is found across the Romance languages: French hausser, Occitan ausar, Catalan alçar, Spanish alzar, Portuguese alçar, Romanian înălța and Friulian alzâ.^[3][5][8]

Latin “altus” continues Proto-Italic *altos;^[1][9] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eltós, a verbal adjective of Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“to grow, nourish”), so that it is the same as the participle of Latin alō (“to feed”).^[1][9] De Vaan finds the meanings hard to connect and leaves the PIE form with a query.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Ritmo cassinese, from the early 13th century.^[10] DELI dates the sense “to lift up” to Bono Giamboni, before 1294, and the LEI to 1292.^[2][5] Dante has the thief Vanni Fucci raise his hands in an obscene gesture at God: le mani alzò con ambedue le fiche.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used alzare for raising the eyes or the head, for birds rising into flight, for heavenly bodies climbing the sky, for raising buildings and for cutting a deck of cards.^[10] Old forms included alçare, aizare in Rome and auzari in Sicily.^[5]

Many derivatives date from the modern period: alzata (before 1537, Biringuccio), alzato “elevation of a building” (1564), alzata d'ingegno “a sly idea” (1863), alzata di scudi “a show of hostility” (1875) and alzabandiera (1942).^[2] Voting per alzata e seduta, with those in favour standing, is recorded in the minutes of the Venetian provisional municipality in 1797.^[2] In slang the verb means “to steal” and colloquially “to earn”, and in volleyball it means to set the ball.^[4][11]

In part of Calabria, where Greek was spoken into the Middle Ages, azata “Shrove Tuesday” is a calque on a Greek word meaning “raising”.^[5]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – The Ritmo cassinese has the first record.^[10]
• 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses alzare “to lift up”.^[5][2]
• Before 1537 – Alzata appears in Biringuccio.^[2]
• 1797 – Venetian minutes record voting per alzata e seduta.^[2]
• 1855 – Alzo, the rear sight of a gun, is recorded.^[2]
• 1942 – Alzabandiera is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To raise, lift: Ha alzato la valigia sul portapacchi.^[4][12][13]
2. To hoist (a flag, sails), or to turn upwards: alzare lo sguardo dal libro.^[4][14]
3. To raise (the voice, a cry); to turn up, increase (volume, prices, a rate): Il governo ha alzato le tasse.^[4][13]
4. To build, erect; to make higher: alzare il muro di recinzione di un metro.^[4][14][13]
5. (volleyball) To set the ball for a teammate to spike.^[4]
6. (card games) To cut the deck.^[4][14]
7. (hunting) To flush birds into flight.^[4][13]
8. (colloquial) To earn, (slang) to steal.^[4]
9. (pronominal, alzarsi) To stand up; to get up from bed; to rise: Domani mi alzo alle sei.^[13][12]

Word family

• alzabandiera
• alzabile
• innalzare
• rialzare
• alzata
• alzo
• sopralzo
• innalzamento
• rialzato
• rialzo
• rialzista
• alzacristallo
• alzamento

Related words

• alto
• Latin altus

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include alzare il gomito (to drink too much), alzare i tacchi (to take to one's heels), alzare le mani (to surrender, or to hit someone) and non alzare un dito (not to lift a finger).^[14][12][15]

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 Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 2, 332
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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 149
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 45
12. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli