avvezzare

Forms

avvezzare (first-person singular present avvézzo, first-person singular past historic avvezzài, past participle avvezzàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *advitiāre (“to accustom”), formed with ad- on Latin vitium (“vice, defect”).^[2][3][4][5] DEI and Battaglia see it as a strengthened form of vitiāre.^[6][7] The same Vulgar Latin verb gave Old Occitan avezat (“accustomed”), Catalan avesar, Spanish avezar and Portuguese avezar; Romanian învăța (“to teach, learn”) is compared too.^{[8][9][1][10]}

Körting found the change of meaning easy if the Latin noun is taken as a bad habit.^[10] Tommaseo noted that Italian usage has moved away from the Latin word, whose sense was milder than Italian vizio.^[11] The adjective avvezzo is a shortened past participle.^[2]

The Latin noun may come from Proto-Indo-European *(d)wi-tyo- (“apart, wrong”), a derivative of the word for “two”.^[12][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is Brunetto Latini's Tesoretto, before 1274, in Florentine, with the sense “to give someone a habit”.^[13][2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the verb for training and taming animals, for urging someone on, and as a pronominal verb for getting used to something, practising it, or becoming familiar with it.^[13] Petrarch speaks of eyes and a mind he has avvezzi to contemplate one woman.^[7] From the 18th century to Giusti it also meant “to bring up” children.^[8]

The dialects keep the verb widely: Romagnol avitsér, Vicentine avessare and Sicilian abbizzari.^[8] In the standard language it is now less common than abituare, and some dictionaries mark it rare or literary.^[14][15]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – Old Occitan avezat “accustomed” is recorded.^[8]
• Before 1274 – Brunetto Latini uses the verb in the Tesoretto.^[13]
• 1320 – The form avvezzare appears in the Italian translation of Crescenzi.^[8]
• Early 14th century – The adjective avvezzo appears in Ugurgieri.^[2]
• Before 1712 – Moneti uses it for bringing up children.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To accustom, to get someone used to something (with a): avvezzare i bambini al silenzio.^{[4][5][16][1]}
2. (by extension) To bring up or train: avvezzare bene or male, to give good or bad habits.^[4][5][14]
3. (reflexive, avvezzarsi) To get used to something (with a): avvezzarsi al freddo.^[5][16][15]

Word family

• avvezzo
• disavvezzare
• avvezzamento
• riavvezzare

Related words

• vezzo
• vizio
• abituare
• Latin vitium

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 382
7. ^ 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, 897
8. ^ 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, 944
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
14. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse