apprendere

Forms

apprendere (first-person singular present apprèndo, first-person singular past historic apprési, past participle appréso, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin apprehendō (“to grasp, seize”), with its contracted form apprendō.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The Latin verb is a compound of ad- and prehendō (“to grasp, seize”), the source of prendere.^[2][3][1] The word is panromance: French apprendre, Occitan aprendre, Catalan aprendre, Spanish aprender and Portuguese aprender “to learn”, and Romanian aprinde “to light”.^[3][6]

The Latin sense “to grasp” explains the Romance meanings, as the LEI sets them out: of fire, “to catch, set alight”, as in Romanian; of plants, “to take root”; of liquids, “to curdle”; and, in the Sicilian school of poets, of love taking hold of the heart.^[7] The sense “to know, to learn” is already found in Tertullian, and it continues in French, Catalan, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.^[7][8] De Vaan explains the simple verb from a compound with ⟨prae-⟩ of a Proto-Italic verb “to seize”, from a nasal present of a root meaning “to grab”, cognate with Ancient Greek χανδάνω (khandánō).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur, of the last quarter of the 12th century; its first sense is “to take hold of, to grasp”.^[9] DELI's earliest dated senses come from the Sicilian poets: “to grasp with the mind” in Frederick II, and “to teach” and, reflexively, “to cling” in Giacomo da Lentini, all before 1250.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian kept the physical sense “to seize, take hold of”, with legal “to take possession of an inheritance” (1355) and the reflexive “to cling, stick to”; it also used the verb of fire catching and of plants taking root.^[9][7] Dante's Amor, ch'al cor gentil ratto s'apprende “Love, which is quickly kindled in a noble heart” shows the poets' sense of a passion taking hold.^[10][11] The mental senses grew alongside: “to understand”, “to learn”, “to come to know” (Guittone, before 1294) and “to teach”.^[2][9]

In modern Italian the verb means chiefly “to learn” and “to find out”, while “to teach” is literary and the reflexive senses are rare.^[4][10] Its derivatives include apprendimento (before 1294), apprendista “apprentice” (before 1758) and apprendistato (1926 or 1933).^[2][3] Battisti and Alessio record a 19th-century apprendis(s)aggio, an adaptation of French apprentissage remade on apprendere.^[8]

Timeline

• Last quarter of the 12th century – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur have the verb.^[9]
• Before 1250 – Frederick II uses it for grasping with the mind, Giacomo da Lentini for “to teach”.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Guittone uses it for “to come to know”.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Latini uses apprendimento.^[2]
• 1355 – The legal sense “to take possession” is recorded.^[7]
• 1638 – Apprensione is recorded in the sense “anxiety”.^[2]
• Before 1758 – Cocchi uses apprendista.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To learn, to acquire knowledge or a skill: apprendere il tedesco; also absolutely.^[4][10][12]
2. To come to know, to find out, to hear (news): Abbiamo appreso del ritardo solo stamattina.^[4][10][12]
3. (literary) To teach.^[4][10][13]
4. apprendersi (literary) To cling, to grip: apprendersi a una sporgenza.^[10][11][13]
5. apprendersi Of fire, to catch, to spread;^[10][12][13] (figurative) of a passion, to take hold.^[10][12][13]

Word family

• apprendibile
• apprendimento
• apprendista
• apprendistato
• apprensione
• apprensivo
• apprendente
• apprenditore
• disapprendere
• riapprendere

Related words

• prendere
• Latin apprehendo
• French apprendre

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 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
7. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 317
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 257
9. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)