cedere

Forms

cedere (first-person singular present cèdo, first-person singular past historic cedétti or (traditional) cedètti or cedéi, past participle cedùto, auxiliary avére)^[1] The old past historic cèssi and past participle cèsso are now archaic.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a learned word: it is borrowed from Latin cēdō (“to go, withdraw”).^[4][5][6][1] DELI treats it as a learned borrowing, and Nocentini lists it among the loans from Latin.^[4][5] DEI notes that in Latin the simple verb was replaced in everyday use by its iterative cessō, the source of cessare.^[7]

The LEI finds that for Tuscan it cannot be decided whether the word is learned or popular.^[8] Wartburg saw uncertain traces of an inherited form in northern Italy and Sardinia, but the late Romance records (céder in Middle French about 1377, cedar in Old Occitan in 1471, ceder in 1582) point to a learned word in Italy too.^[8]

Nocentini finds no cognates of the Latin verb outside Latin.^[5] De Vaan traces it to Proto-Italic *kezdō and, following Lubotsky, to Proto-Indo-European *ḱyesdʰ- (“to drive away; to go away”), the root of Sanskrit सेधति (sedhati, “drives away”).^[9][10] He rejects the older analysis as a compound of a particle “here” and the root “to sit” on grounds of meaning, since the iterative verb and necesse point to “yield, give way” as the first sense.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Florentine vernacular translation of the Tesoro at the end of the 13th century, in the sense “to give way, submit, surrender”.^[11][8] DELI dates the sense “to fall back, not resist” to Iacopone da Todi, who died in 1306.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already had the main senses: to yield or surrender, to make way, to fall back, and, transitively, to hand something over to someone, also in the phrase cedere ragione, to give up one's right to something.^[11] Dante uses it for speech that falls short of what he saw: il parlar nostro, ch'a tal vista cede (“our speech, which yields to such a sight”).^[12] Boccaccio (about 1336) has it of foundations and pillars that sink or give way, and Matteo Villani (before 1363) of handing over possession of a thing.^[4]

The commercial sense “to sell” is recorded from 1761.^[4] The dialects have their own forms, such as Romanesco cède (1831) and Neapolitan cedere and ciedere (17th–18th century).^[8] The verb was also used of a woman giving in to a suitor.^[8][3]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – Cedere appears in the Florentine translation of the Tesoro.^[11]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses it for “to fall back, not resist”.^[4]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for “to make way, give place”.^[4]
• About 1336 – Boccaccio uses it of foundations that sink or give way.^[4]
• Before 1363 – Matteo Villani uses it transitively for “to hand over possession”.^[4]
• 1761 – The sense “to sell” is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) Of troops, to stop resisting, fall back, surrender: il reparto cedette dopo tre giorni.^[6][2][13]
2. (intransitive, figurative) To give in to others' demands or pressure after resisting: alla fine ha ceduto alle suppliche dei figli.^[6][2][14]
3. (intransitive) To let oneself go, yield to a feeling: cedere alla stanchezza.^[6][2]
4. (intransitive) Of a thing, to give way under a weight or strain, collapse: la mensola ha ceduto.^[6][2] Of fabrics and shoes, to stretch.^[6][2][14]
5. (intransitive) To make way, give place to someone or something else.^[6][4]
6. (transitive) To hand over, give up something to someone: cedere la propria quota, cedere la poltrona.^[6][11]
7. (transitive) To sell: ha ceduto l'attività a un cugino.^[6][4]

Word family

• cedevole
• cedevolezza
• cedibile
• cedimento
• cedente

Related words

• cessare
• cessione
• concedere
• incedere
• recedere
• retrocedere
• Latin cēdō
• French céder

Usage notes

Set phrases include cedere il passo (to make way), cedere le armi (to surrender) and cedere terreno (to lose ground).^[6] With a negative it means not to be inferior to someone: non cedere a nessuno in some quality.^[13][12]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 836
8. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 13, 717
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
11. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse