compiacere

Forms

compiacere (first-person singular present compiàccio, first-person singular past historic compiàcqui, past participle compiaciùto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old Italian forms include Milanese complaxer, Ligurian compiaxeir and Trevisan chomplazer.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin complacēre (“to please, find favour”), formed from com- (“with”) and placeō (“to please”), the source of piacere.^[4][5][6][7] The Latin verb was used above all in Christian Latin and continued in Medieval Latin.^[2]

Meyer-Lübke, Lausberg in the FEW and DEI took the Romance forms for learned words, and GDLI also calls the Italian verb a learned adaptation.^[2][8][9] The LEI follows Faré in treating the Italian forms as popular, and Lausberg himself spoke of a borrowing fitted to the stem of the descendants of placeō.^[2] The same verb is Old French complaire, Old Occitan complazer, Catalan complaure, Spanish complacer and Romansh cumplaschair.^[2]

For placeō de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *plakē- and Proto-Indo-European *pl(e)h₂/₃k- (“to agree, be pleasant”), compared only with a Tocharian verb meaning “to agree”.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Milanese poems of Bonvesin de la Riva (1270–1280), with complaxer a “to please, do what someone wishes”.^[3][2] In Tuscan the first record is Dino Compagni's chronicle (1310–1312): a man who spoke ill of another per compiacere a altri, “to please others”.^[4][9]

Semantic evolution

Dante, before 1321, has the reflexive compiacersi “to feel an inner satisfaction”.^[4] The transitive “to grant, favour” is recorded about 1334, in the commentary called the Ottimo, and is now obsolete.^[2][11] Boccaccio uses compiacere a for a woman giving herself for money: disposta per picciol pregio a compiacere a qualunque uomo (“willing, for a small price, to please any man”).^[7][11] Tommaseo also notes the sense “to go along with someone in wrongdoing”.^[12]

In modern Italian the pronominal verb also means “to congratulate” (compiacersi con qualcuno) and “to deign” (compiacersi di with an infinitive).^[13][5][14] The derivatives show the same range: compiacenza “satisfaction” is in Iacopone before 1306, compiacimento in the 14th century, and compiacente “obliging” in 1681, later also “weak, yielding” (before 1797) and “granting favours of a doubtful kind” (1898, Svevo).^[4]

Timeline

• 1270–1280 – Bonvesin de la Riva uses Milanese complaxer.^[2][3]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone uses compiacenza.^[4]
• 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses compiacere “to please”.^[4]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses the reflexive compiacersi.^[4]
• About 1334 – The Ottimo commentary uses the transitive “to grant”.^[2]
• 1681 – Magalotti uses compiacente.^[4]
• 1898 – Svevo uses compiacente for granting favours of a doubtful kind.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To satisfy, humour; to gratify someone or their wishes: Il nonno compiaceva i nipoti in ogni capriccio.^[7][13][11]
2. (intransitive, with a) To please, do something agreeable for someone: L'ho invitato solo per compiacere a sua sorella.^[7][13][15]
3. (intransitive, literary) To give oneself sexually to someone.^[7][11]
4. (transitive, obsolete) To grant, allow.^[7][11][16]
5. (compiacersi) To take pleasure or satisfaction in something, with di, per or in.^[13][5][15]
6. (compiacersi) To congratulate someone, with con: Mi compiaccio con voi per il nuovo negozio.^[13][5][15]
7. (compiacersi, formal) To deign to do something, with di and an infinitive.^[13][5][11]

Word family

• compiacente
• compiacenza
• compiacimento
• compiaciuto

Related words

• piacere
• Latin placeō
• French complaire

Usage notes

The verb is conjugated like piacere (compiaccio, compiacqui, compiaciuto) and takes avere.^[1][13][14]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 16, 436
3. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ 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. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1036
9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 404
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ 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
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 c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli