assicurare

Forms

assicurare (first-person singular present assicùro, first-person singular past historic assicurài, past participle assicuràto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include assigurare, asicurare and asecurare.^[2][3] The form assecurare is literary and archaic.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *assēcūrāre, formed from sēcūrus (“safe, secure”) with the prefix ad- and a verb ending.^[6][7][2][1] The verb is found in all the Romance languages except Romanian: Romansh asgürêr, Old French aseurer, Old Occitan assegurar, Catalan assegurar, Spanish asegurar, Portuguese assegurar and Sardinian assegurare.^[2][8] The verb Romanian asigura is a later formation.^[8]

Medieval Latin assecurare is recorded from the 12th century, for protecting (1114) and for guaranteeing (1248), and Wiktionary takes it as a borrowing from Romance.^[2][1] Tommaseo explains sēcūrus as “free from care”, from cūra (“care, worry”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur of the 12th century.^[3] DELI and the LEI date the sense “to make certain, persuade” to the early 13th century, in Mazzeo di Ricco.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb also meant to encourage (Brunetto Latini, before 1294), to dare, and to protect.^[6][3] Petrarch asks Chi m'assicura? / I' vo gridando: Pace, pace, pace (“Who makes me safe? I go about crying: peace, peace, peace”).^[10][6] Dante's leva la testa e fa che t'assicuri (“raise your head and take heart”) shows the old pronominal sense.^[5][11]

The commercial sense, insuring goods or a ship against risk, is in Franco Sacchetti before 1400, and a Florentine document of 1397 has assicuratore, an insurer.^[6] Assicurazione meant the act of making sure in 1611–1618 and an insurance contract from 1673 (as assecurazione).^[6] Ariosto in 1532 uses the verb for fastening something firmly, and the assicurata, a letter sent with special safeguards, is recorded in 1918.^[6] In mountaineering it now also means belaying a climbing partner.^[12][13]

Timeline

• 12th century – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur use the verb.^[3]
• Early 13th century – Mazzeo di Ricco uses assicurare “to persuade”.^[6][2]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for encouraging.^[6]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses it for protecting.^[6]
• 1397 – Assicuratore appears in a Florentine document.^[6]
• Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses it for insuring.^[6]
• 1532 – Ariosto uses it for fastening.^[6]
• 1673 – Assecurazione is recorded for an insurance contract.^[6]
• 1918 – Assicurata, an insured letter, is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To make certain, to ensure or guarantee: assicurare un futuro tranquillo ai nipoti.^[12][4][5]
2. (transitive) To protect from harm or danger.^[12][4]
3. (transitive) To insure something under a contract of insurance: Abbiamo assicurato la casa contro gli incendi.^[12][4][5]
4. (transitive) To send a letter or parcel by insured post.^[12][4]
5. (transitive) To assure someone, to tell them confidently: Ti assicuro che non ne sapevo niente.^[12][5][14]
6. (transitive) To fasten, to make fast: assicurare la barca al pontile.^[12][4][5]
7. (mountaineering) To belay a fellow climber.^[12][14]
8. (pronominal, assicurarsi) To make sure of something, to take out insurance, or to secure something for oneself.^[5][14][11]

Word family

• assicurazione
• assicuratore
• assicurato
• assicurata
• assicurativo
• assicurabile
• rassicurare
• riassicurare

Related words

• sicuro
• sicurezza
• French assurer

Usage notes

Assicurare qualcuno alla giustizia means to arrest someone or have them arrested.^[12][4][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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
3. ^ a b c d 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 Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 1, 764
11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ 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
13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. Supplemento 2009
14. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli