apparire

Forms

apparire (first-person singular present appàio or apparìsco, first-person singular past historic appàrvi or (less common) apparìi or (ditto) appàrsi, past participle appàrso, auxiliary èssere)^[1] The older infinitive apparere is recorded until Tasso (before 1595).^[1][2][3] Dialect forms include Genoese apparî, Bolognese aparir and Triestine aparir.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin appārēre (“to become visible, appear”), which moved to the conjugation in ⟨-ire⟩.^[4][5][6][1] DEI and Prati start instead from the inchoative Late Latin *apparēscere, and Nocentini explains that the Romance forms continue both.^[7][8][9] The Latin verb is made of ad- (“to, at”) and pāreō (“to appear, be visible”).^[4][5][1]

The Latin verb survives in Romanian apărea, Engadine apparair, Old French aparer (whence appert (“it is evident”)), Old Occitan aparer, aparer and Campidanese appárriri; the change to ⟨-ire⟩ is shared with Friulian aparî and with aparir.^[2][10] The inchoative lies behind French apparaître, Spanish aparecer and Portuguese aparecer.^[9]

According to de Vaan, the Latin pāreō (whose basic sense in Latin is “to obey”) may come from a root meaning “to see”, comparing Armenian հայիմ (hayim, “to look”) and Albanian pashë (“I saw”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂-s- (“to watch”), with a query.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Bolognese Parlamenti of Guido Faba, about 1243; the LEI cites Guido Guinizelli, before 1276, for aparire “to come into sight”.^[12][2] DELI dates the word to Guittone d'Arezzo, before 1294, in the sense “to come into view, be evident”.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In the early texts the verb stresses a sudden, unexpected sight that holds the attention and causes wonder.^[12][13] Dante uses it for Beatrice's first appearance in the Vita Nuova and for her arrival in the Purgatorio: “Donna m'apparve, sotto verde manto” (“a lady appeared to me, beneath a green cloak”).^[13][14][15] Old Italian also used it of the stars shining, of daybreak, and of flowers coming out.^[12]

The verb soon gained the sense “to seem, look”, often opposed to being: Tommaseo–Bellini quotes the proverb quel che si fa all'oscuro apparisce al sole, what is done in the dark comes out in the sun.^[3][12] The derivatives are old: apparenza and appariscenza are in the Novellino, apparente in Dante (1304–1308), and apparizione (about 1336, Boccaccio) goes back to Christian Latin appāritio “Epiphany”, a calque of Ancient Greek ἐπιφάνεια (epipháneia).^[4] sparire was formed from the verb by a change of prefix.^[9] In recent use apparire alone also means to show off, to seek attention.^[5][14]

Timeline

• c. 1243 – Guido Faba uses the verb.^[12]
• Before 1276 – Guido Guinizelli uses aparire.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses apparire.^[4]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses apparente.^[4]
• c. 1336 – Boccaccio uses apparizione.^[4]
• Before 1595 – Tasso still uses the older infinitive apparere.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To appear, to come into sight, especially suddenly: Dietro la curva apparve il mare.^[5][14][16]
2. To appear as a vision or in a dream: Le apparve in sogno il nonno.^[5][14][17]
3. Of the sun, moon or stars, to rise, come out.^[17][16][18]
4. To seem, look, with an adjective: Al ritorno appariva stanco ma contento.^[5][14][16]
5. To be evident, turn out: Dai dati appare chiaro che il progetto costa troppo.^[5][14][15]
6. To show off, seek to be noticed: È uno che ama apparire.^[5][14][17]

Word family

• riapparire
• sparire
• apparente
• apparenza
• appariscente
• appariscenza
• apparizione

Related words

• comparire
• parere
• trasparire
• Latin appareo

Usage notes

The present has two series of forms, appaio, appari, appare and the literary apparisco, apparisci, apparisce; the past historic is apparvi, less often apparii or apparsi, and the participle apparso.^[14][16][15] The verb takes essere.^[1][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 3, 180
3. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 251
8. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 61
9. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
13. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 1, 553
14. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
17. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
18. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli