chiudere

Forms

chiudere (first-person singular present chiùdo, first-person singular past historic chiùsi, past participle chiùso, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin clūdō (“to close, shut”), the Late Latin form of Latin claudō (“to close, shut”), remade on compounds such as inclūdō and exclūdō, where /au/ had regularly become /uː/.^[2][3][4][5] DELI notes that the newer form replaces the older one from Seneca's time on and continues in the Romance languages, except in the west, from Sardinia to Portugal, which kept the classical vowel.^[2] DEI says that the form with /u/ is mainly central and southern.^[6] The same verb is French clore (now dated), Occitan claure, Catalan cloure and Friulian clúdi, but it did not survive in Spanish.^[7][8]

Nocentini and DEI connect it with clāvis (“key”) and clāvus (“nail”), the sources of chiave and chiodo, although DEI calls its links with other Indo-European languages unclear.^[7][6] De Vaan prefers a root Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂u-d- (“to shut”), close to Old High German sliozan (“to shut”).^[9][4] The initial /kl/ became /kj/, written ⟨chi⟩, as in the word for key.^[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Tuscan translation of Albertanus by Andrea da Grosseto (1268).^[10] DELI's earliest dated senses are “to enclose, surround” (1300–1313) and “to block” (1304–1308), both in Dante, and “to bring together the parts of something” in Dino Compagni (1310–1312), who writes: “non ardimo a chiudere le porte” (we did not dare to shut the gates).^[2][11]

Semantic evolution

Petrarch uses the verb for “to contain” (before 1374), the 14th-century Ottimo commentary on Dante for “to conclude, finish”, and Tasso the reflexive for “to withdraw, shut oneself away” (before 1595).^[2] Old and dialect forms such as chiuggo and chiudetti appear in writers into the 18th century.^[12]

The past participle gave the adjective and noun chiuso “closed; pen for animals” (1236, 1282) and the noun chiusa “enclosure” (13th century), later also a dam, a narrow pass (1553) and the closing lines of a poem (before 1642).^[2] Chiusura is in Compagni, and chiusura lampo “zip fastener” is recorded in 1935; its figurative sense “closed-mindedness” dates from 1964.^[2] Common phrases are chiudere un occhio “to turn a blind eye”, non chiudere occhio “not to sleep a wink” and chiudere i battenti “to close down”.^[3][13]

Timeline

• 1268 – Andrea da Grosseto uses the verb.^[10]
• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses the adjective chiuso.^[2]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses chiudere for “to enclose”.^[2]
• 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses it for shutting gates.^[2]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses it for “to contain”.^[2]
• Before 1595 – Tasso uses the reflexive for “to withdraw”.^[2]
• 1935 – Chiusura lampo is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To close, shut a door, window or lid: Chiudi la finestra, fa freddo.^{[3][14][15][1]}
2. (transitive) To lock or fasten something, chiudere a chiave, to lock: Hai chiuso la macchina?^[3][14]
3. (transitive) To stop up, seal, cap: Ricordati di chiudere bene il barattolo.^[3][15]
4. (transitive) To fold up or bring together the parts of something (an umbrella, a book, one's eyes or hand).^[3][14][13]
5. (transitive) To block, bar a road or passage: Hanno chiuso il ponte per lavori.^[3][15]
6. (transitive) To enclose, surround: Una fila di cipressi chiude il cortile.^[3][15][16]
7. (transitive) To turn off a tap, the gas or (colloquially) an appliance.^[3][5][15]
8. (transitive) To end, conclude a speech, deal or account: chiudere un conto.^[3][15]
9. (transitive or intransitive) Of a shop or business, to close for the day or close down: La biblioteca chiude alle sette.^[3][15][1]
10. (intransitive, informal) To be done with someone or something: Ho chiuso con quella gente.^[1]

Word family

• chiuso
• chiusa
• chiusura
• chiusino
• chiudenda
• racchiudere
• rinchiudere
• richiudere
• socchiudere
• schiudere
• dischiudere

Related words

• chiudersi
• chiudiporta
• chiave
• chiodo
• includere
• escludere
• concludere
• Latin claudo

Usage notes

The past historic is chiusi and the past participle chiuso.^[14][1] Chiudersi means “to close” of a door or flower, and “to shut oneself away” of a person.^[14][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
6. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 912
7. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 14, 1175
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 94
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET, p. 1, 1406
13. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c d e 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 c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli