attendere

Forms

attendere (first-person singular present attèndo, first-person singular past historic attési, past participle attéso, auxiliary avére)^[1] The verb is conjugated like tendere: past historic attesi, past participle atteso.^[2][3][1] Old forms include Old Italian atendere and Old Italian actendere.^[4]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin attendere (“to turn one's mind to, pay attention”), from ad- (“towards”) and tendō (“to stretch”).^[5][6][7][1] The sense “to wait for” goes back to Medieval Latin, where it is recorded in charters of Lausanne of 852–875, and is shared by Old French atendre, French attendre, Old Occitan atendre and Spanish atender.^[5][8] The meaning “to pay attention” survives in Friulian atìndi, Romansh, Catalan and Portuguese, and the sense “to keep a promise” matches Old Catalan.^[8][9] Leopardi thought that “wait for” came from “watch” in the same way as other verbs of looking.^[10]

De Vaan derives the Latin verb from the root Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”), which also gave teneō (“to hold”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a document from Fabriano of 1186.^[4] DELI's first record, with the sense “to wait for”, is in Bonagiunta Orbicciani before 1257: l'alta gio' che 'l core atende, “the high joy that the heart awaits”.^[5][10]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb for awaiting a future event, hoping or fearing, and for turning one's thought or care to someone or something: tending animals, holding an office, devoting oneself to study, observing a rule and keeping a promise.^[4] Dante has lunga promessa con l'attender corto, “long promise with short keeping”.^[12][13] The intransitive sense “to devote oneself” is in Dino Compagni in 1310–1312.^[5]

Derivatives multiplied later: attesa “waiting” in the 13th century, attendibile “reliable” in 1751, the military attendente, an officer's orderly, in 1889, and attendismo, political wait-and-see, in 1942 after French attentisme.^[5][6] Today attendere is a more formal word than aspettare; the senses “to listen carefully” and “to keep a promise” are archaic.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 1186 – A Fabriano document has the first record.^[4]
• Before 1257 – Bonagiunta uses attendere for “to wait for”.^[5]
• 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses it for “to devote oneself to”.^[5]
• 1751 – Attendibile “reliable” is first recorded.^[5]
• 1889 – Attendente “orderly” is first recorded.^[5]
• 1942 – Attendismo is recorded, modelled on French attentisme.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To wait for, to await (more formal than aspettare): Attendiamo una sua risposta. Also absolutely: Attenda in linea, prego.^[7][2][3]
2. (transitive) Of a future event, to be in store for: Ci attende un inverno difficile.^[3]
3. (intransitive) To devote oneself, apply oneself (a): attendere al proprio lavoro.^[7][2][13]
4. (transitive, archaic) To keep a promise.^[7][2][12]
5. (archaic) To pay attention, listen carefully.^[2][13][14]
6. attendersi: to expect: Non mi attendevo tanto entusiasmo.^[2][13]

Word family

• attesa
• atteso
• attendente
• attendibile
• attendibilità
• inattendibile
• inatteso
• attendismo
• disattendere

Related words

• attento
• attenzione
• tendere
• Latin attendo
• French attendre

Usage notes

Attendere al varco means to lie in wait for someone.^[7] The past participle atteso is used in formal and bureaucratic language for “considering, given”, and atteso che for “considering that” goes back to Castiglione.^[3][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 2053
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ 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, 810
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 Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli