Etymologically
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ascoltare

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Pronunciation

  • /as.kolˈta.re/[1]

Forms

ascoltare (first-person singular present ascólto, first-person singular past historic ascoltài, past participle ascoltàto, auxiliary avére)[1] Old forms include Old Italian scoltare, Old Italian ascultare and Old Italian ascholtare;[2][3] Old Lombard had scoltar and Old Venetian ascoltar.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ascultāre, a form of auscultō (“to listen”) recorded from the 2nd century, in the grammarian Flavius Caper.[4][5][2][6][1] DELI explains the loss of the first ⟨u⟩ by dissimilation, as in agosto, and Devoto by the usual reduction of ⟨au⟩ before the stress.[4][7]

Nocentini calls the word pan-Romance: French écouter, Occitan escoutar, Catalan escoltar, Spanish escuchar, Portuguese escutar, Sardinian ascultare and Romanian asculta.[5][8] DÉRom reconstructs Proto-Romance /asˈkʊlt-a-/ for most branches but refers the Vegliote, Occitan, Gascon and Catalan words to a type /esˈkolt-a-/.[6] The learned doublet is auscultare, the medical term.[2][1]

The Latin verb keeps ⟨aus-⟩, the old stem of auris (“ear”) before rhotacism; its second part is usually connected with Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- (“to hear”), and de Vaan finds this likely if the form passed through a stage with a syllabic /l/.[9][1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio, a poem from the Marche of the second half of the 12th century.[3] DELI finds scoltare in the Ritmo cassinese (end of the 12th or beginning of the 13th century) and ascoltare in Jacopone da Todi before 1306, with the senses “to listen, to heed”.[4] The LEI records Lombard scoltar early in the 13th century and Venetian ascoltar about 1250.[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the verb for eavesdropping, for hearing an official document read out, for granting a prayer, for learning of something, for heeding advice or authority, and for attending a religious service.[3] The old noun ascolta, with the shorter scolta, meant a sentry in Ariosto, a military sense shared with Old French and Old Galician.[10][2] Ascoltatore is in Boccaccio in 1336, and ascolto, formed from the verb, in Franco Sacchetti before 1400.[4]

In medicine the verb also stands for auscultare, listening to the sounds of the chest.[11][12] Petrarch's Canzoniere opens with it: “Voi ch'ascoltate in rime sparse il suono” (you who hear in scattered rhymes the sound).[13]

Timeline

  • Second half of the 12th century – The Ritmo di Sant'Alessio uses the verb.[3]
  • Early 13th century – Old Lombard scoltar is recorded.[2]
  • About 1250 – Old Venetian ascoltar is recorded.[2]
  • Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses ascoltare.[4]
  • 1336 – Boccaccio uses ascoltatore.[4]
  • Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses ascolto.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To listen to, hear attentively; also without an object: Stasera ascoltiamo un concerto alla radio.[11][14][12]
  2. In ascoltare la messa, to attend mass.[11][14]
  3. To heed advice; to obey: Avresti dovuto ascoltare tuo padre.[11][14][12]
  4. To grant a prayer or request, often in the passive.[11][14][12]
  5. (medicine) To auscultate.[11][14][12]
  6. (reflexive, ascoltarsi) To listen to oneself, or to one's own feelings.[12][14]

Word family

  • ascolto
  • ascoltatore
  • riascoltare

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 2536
  3. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
  7. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  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. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 76
  11. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  12. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 1, 726
  14. ^ 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