aprire

Forms

aprire (first-person singular present àpro, first-person singular past historic aprìi or apèrsi, past participle apèrto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Other old forms are Old Italian oprire (Iacopone, Petrarch) and avrire (Fazio degli Uberti).^[2] Northern forms include Lombard aurir (Old Lombard) and Emilian avrir (Bologna).^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin aperiō (“to open, uncover”).^[4][5][6][1] Sabatini–Coletti notes the loss of the vowel before the stress.^[7] The Latin verb survives in Friulian avrî, Romansh avrir, Spanish abrir and Portuguese abrir.^[3][5] In Gaul and in central Italy it was influenced by Latin cooperiō (“to cover”) and operiō (“to cover, close”) and became Vulgar Latin *operīre, the source of Old French obrir, French ouvrir, Occitan obrir and Catalan obrir and of the Italian dialect forms with ⟨o⟩.^[3][8]

DELI calls the Latin verb's origin uncertain.^[4] De Vaan derives it from Proto-Italic *ap-wer-je-, with the prefix ab (“off”) and the root of Proto-Indo-European *h₂wer- (“to cover”), with Sanskrit वृणोति (vṛṇóti, “covers”) and Lithuanian atvérti (“to open”); its opposite was ⟨*op-wer-je-⟩, which became ⟨operiō⟩.^[9] Nocentini adds that the exact sound changes have not been settled.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in the 13th-century Venetian Proverbia super natura feminarum, with the sense “to unclose, open wide”; this is also the TLIO's first record.^[4][10] GRADIT dates the word to before 1294.^[6] Earlier still, from 1276, Panuccio del Bagno uses it in the figurative sense “to reveal, make plain”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the verb for opening doors, containers, letters and books, for the eyes and mouth, for making a road passable and for revealing one's will or feelings.^[10] Aprire il cuore a qualcuno, to confide in someone, is recorded from the 14th century.^[3] The sense “to found, set up” appears before 1492 in Lorenzo de' Medici.^[4] In 1848 Ugolini criticised aprire un credito, “to open a credit”, and in 1905 Panzini noted aprire la seduta and aprire la campagna elettorale as new.^[4] In 1923 Panzini recorded aprire la luce “to switch on the light”, because one opens the electric current.^[4] More recent are the political sense “to show willingness to come to an agreement” (1984) and the football sense “to switch play to a wing”.^[11] Compounds such as apriscatole (1941), apripista (1956) and apribottiglie (1965) are modern.^[4]

Timeline

• 1276 – Panuccio del Bagno uses aprire “to reveal”.^[3]
• 13th century – the Proverbia super natura feminarum use it for “to open”.^[4][10]
• Before 1492 – Lorenzo de' Medici uses it for “to found”.^[4]
• 1905 – Panzini lists aprire la seduta as a new usage.^[4]
• 1923 – Panzini records aprire la luce.^[4]
• 1941 – apriscatole “can opener” is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To open: to move a door, window, lid or similar so as to give access: Apri la finestra, fa caldo.^[6][12][7]
2. To unwrap or unseal: aprire un regalo; to unfold or spread: aprire una cartina.^[6][7][13]
3. To make an opening or passage: aprire un varco tra la folla; to cut open.^[6][12][14]
4. To make accessible: aprire un ponte al traffico; to open a shop or business to the public.^[6][12][13]
5. To begin, start or inaugurate: aprire il convegno; to lead a procession.^[7][12]
6. To found or set up: aprire un ristorante.^[4][7]
7. (colloquial) To turn on a tap or appliance: aprire l'acqua, aprire la luce.^[6][7][13]
8. (figurative) To reveal: aprire il cuore a qualcuno, to confide in someone.^[12][14]
9. (intransitive, reflexive aprirsi) To open; of a flower, to bloom; of a person, to confide.^[6][1]

Word family

• aperto
• apertura
• apribile
• apriscatole
• apribottiglie
• apripista
• apribocca
• apritore
• riaprire

Related words

• aperitivo
• coprire
• Latin aperiō

Usage notes

The past historic is aprii or, less commonly, apersi, and the past participle aperto.^[12][7][14] Set phrases include aprire gli occhi “to realise the truth”, non aprire bocca “not to say a word”, aprire il fuoco “to open fire” and the jocular exclamation apriti cielo!.^[6][14][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
3. ^ 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, 1716
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ 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. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
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