avanzare

Forms

avanzare (first-person singular present avànzo, first-person singular past historic avanzài, past participle avanzàto, auxiliary (intransitive) èssere or (transitive, also intransitive meaning "to advance") avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *abantiāre (“to bring forward”), from Late Latin abante (“in front, before”), itself from ab (“from”) and ante (“before”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb is not recorded; the LEI reconstructs it from French avancer, Friulian vantsá (“to stick out”) and the Italian forms.^[5][6] The same verb is Occitan avansar and Catalan avançar, from which Spanish avanzar and Portuguese avançar were borrowed.^[3][5][6] According to the LEI the senses of the first Italian records do not allow a direct link with Latin anteā.^[5]

The sense “to be left over” came back to the verb through avanzo “remainder”: DELI and the LEI take that noun as a deverbal of the verb of motion, and the verb meaning “to be left, have to spare” as formed again on the noun.^[2][5] GRADIT, DEI, Sabatini–Coletti and Gabrielli therefore list it as a separate headword, from Italian avanzo, while Treccani gives it the same origin as the first.^{[4][7][8][9][10]}

The first part is from Proto-Italic *ap, Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó, and the second from *anti, *h₂énti, the locative of a root noun *h₂ent- (“front”).^[1][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Giacomo da Lentini (before 1250), with the sense “to go forward”.^[2] The TLIO's earliest text is the Frotula of Patecchio from Cremona, of the 13th century, and its first sense is to go or come forward, to proceed.^[12]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb already moved from going forward to getting ahead: “to surpass” (Bonagiunta, before 1257) and “to make progress, to further” (Latini, before 1294).^[2] The TLIO lists further senses: to come forward to obtain something, of seasons and crops to come on and ripen, and in war to gain ground over an enemy.^[12]

The sense “to save, put by” appears in the second half of the 13th century in Dante da Maiano and in a Bolognese text, and lives on in the dialects of Liguria and Piedmont.^[5] Boccaccio (1353) has both “to save” and “to be left over”, Ariosto (before 1533) “to be owed”.^[2] Boccaccio's In pochi anni grandissima quantità di danari avanzarono (“in a few years they saved a great quantity of money”) is the classic example of the saving sense.^[13]

The military senses grew later: avanzata named an advance detachment in 1824 and the advance of victorious troops in 1908.^[2] In football the verb is used of a player running with the ball towards the opposing goal.^[4][10] The verb passed into Esperanto as avanci.^[1]

Timeline

• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses avanzare “to go forward”.^[2]
• Before 1257 – Bonagiunta uses it transitively, “to surpass”.^[2]
• Second half of the 13th century – The sense “to save” appears in Dante da Maiano.^[5]
• Before 1294 – B. Latini uses it for “to further”.^[2]
• 1353 – Boccaccio uses it for “to be left over” and “to save”.^[2]
• Before 1533 – L. Ariosto uses it for “to be owed”.^[2]
• 1824 – Avanzata is recorded for a detachment sent ahead of the troops.^[2]
• 1908 – Avanzata is recorded for the advance of victorious troops.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To go forward, advance; of troops, to move on the enemy: il corteo avanzava piano.^[4][14][1]
2. (intransitive, figurative) To make progress, to improve one's position: avanzare nella carriera.^[4][14]
3. (intransitive) To stick out, project: il tetto avanza sulla strada.^[4][15][1]
4. (transitive) To put forward, propose: avanzare un'ipotesi.^[4][16]
5. (transitive) To move forward; to promote to a higher rank.^[4][1]
6. (transitive) To surpass: avanzare tutti in altezza.^[4][9]
7. (intransitive) To be left over, to be more than enough: è avanzata della torta;^[4][14][10] basta e avanza, it's plenty.^[4][14][10]
8. (intransitive, uncommon) To survive, escape: avanzare a un disastro.^[4][14]
9. (transitive) To be owed: avanzo cento euro da lui, he owes me a hundred euros.^[4][8]
10. (transitive, dated) To save, have left: avanzare qualcosa a fine mese.^[4][14][1]

Word family

• avanzamento
• avanzata
• avanzato
• avanzo
• disavanzare
• disavanzo
• sopravanzare
• sopravanzo

Related words

• avanti
• French avancer

Usage notes

The verb of motion takes avere or essere; in the sense “to be left over” it takes essere.^[1][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ 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. 1, 33
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 376
8. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
10. ^ 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)
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 Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
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
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli