comprendere

Forms

comprendere (first-person singular present comprèndo, first-person singular past historic comprési, past participle compréso, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Vulgar Latin comprendere (“to grasp”), the contracted form of classical Latin comprehendō (“to seize; to include; to understand”).^[2][3][4][1] DELI, Zingarelli and GDLI instead call it a learned word taken from the classical verb.^[5][6][7] The LEI describes the verb as a popular form in most Romance languages, while Romanian cuprinde (“to embrace, contain”) is the only one handed down by regular sound change.^[8] The Latin verb is com- (“together”) added to prehendō (“to grasp, seize”), the source of prendere.^[5][2][9]

It is found across the Romance languages: French comprendre, Occitan compendre, Catalan compendre, Spanish comprender, Portuguese comprender and Sardinian cumprendere.^[2][10] DEI notes that the sense “to grasp with the mind” is shared by Italian, Sardinian and western Romance, and compares German begreifen, which renders the same image in German.^[11]

According to de Vaan, the simple verb goes back to Proto-Italic *prai-χend- (“to seize”), with a nasal present of Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to grab”); contracted forms such as the one Italian continues arose after prefixes.^[12] Its cognates are Ancient Greek χανδάνω (khandánō, “to grab”) and Gothic 𐌳𐌿𐌲𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (duginnan, “to begin”).^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the poems of Giacomino Pugliese, of the first half of the 13th century, in Tuscan copy.^[13] DELI dates the sense “to contain, include” before 1294, in Brunetto Latini, and the sense “to understand” to Dante's Convivio (1304–1308).^[5][14]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian kept much of the Latin sense of seizing: the verb was used of fire, darkness, cold or snow overwhelming someone, of feelings and vices taking hold of the heart, and of catching someone in a fault.^[8][13][15] Dante uses it both for containing (God “comprehends” the infinite) and for grasping with the mind, and also for perceiving with the senses.^[7][14]

The sense “to judge with indulgence, to excuse” developed from understanding a person's reasons.^[13][14] The literary sense of being overwhelmed by a feeling survives in phrases such as compreso d'orrore.^[6][4] The derivative comprendonio, a jocular word for “understanding, wits”, is recorded as comprendomine in Aretino in 1536 and in its modern form in 1664.^[5] Comprensione took on the sense “indulgence, sympathy” only in the 20th century, in Carlo Emilio Gadda.^[5]

Timeline

• First half of the 13th century – Giacomino Pugliese uses comprendere.^[13]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for “to contain, include”.^[5]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses it for “to understand”.^[5]
• Before 1420 – Comprensione “understanding” is recorded.^[5]
• 1536 – Aretino uses comprendomine, the forerunner of comprendonio.^[5]
• 1584–1585 – Giordano Bruno uses comprensibile.^[5]
• 1798 – Comprensorio “district” is recorded in the acts of the Cisalpine Republic.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To understand, to grasp the meaning of something: Non ho compreso la domanda.^[14][3][9]
2. To understand a person's feelings or reasons, and so to excuse or forgive: Cerca di comprenderla, è molto stanca.^[14][3][6]
3. To include in a group or category: Nel prezzo è compresa la colazione.^[14][3][9]
4. To contain, to comprise: La casa comprende tre camere e due bagni.^[14][9][6]
5. (literary) To perceive with the senses.^[14][6]
6. (literary) Of a feeling, to overwhelm, take hold of someone; of a disease, to strike.^[14][6][4]
7. (reciprocal, comprendersi) To understand each other.^[9][4][16]

Word family

• comprensorio
• comprendonio
• comprensibile
• comprensibilità
• comprensione
• comprensivo
• comprensoriale
• incomprensibile
• incomprensione
• compreso
• incompreso
• comprendimento

Related words

• prendere
• apprendere
• Latin comprehendō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
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. 3, 428
8. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 16, 614
9. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1039
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
14. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli