confarsi

Forms

confarsi (third-person only, third-person singular present (with syntactic gemination after the verb) si confà, third-person singular past historic si conféce, past participle (rare) confàttosi, third-person singular imperfect si confacéva)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian con- + fare, used as a pronominal verb.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Wiktionary instead traces it to Latin cōnficiō (“to make, accomplish”).^[1] The TLIO, following the DEI, gives Vulgar Latin *confacere, with the Latin verb remade on the simple faciō (“to make, do”).^[7] Latin cōnficiō itself is formed from con- and faciō.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded around 1224 in the Laudes creaturarum of Saint Francis of Assisi, in the Umbrian of Assisi: Ad te solo, Altissimo, se konfano (“to you alone, Most High, they [praise, glory and honour] are fitting”).^[7][2] The sense is “to be fitting, appropriate”.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb was used both with and without the pronoun.^[7] Besides “to be fitting”, it meant “to get along, to harmonise”, “to be in proportion”, “to be similar”, and “to do good, to be useful; to please”.^[7] In 1282 Restoro d'Arezzo describes a plant drawing up moisture from the earth and sending to the pith what suits the pith.^[7] The TLIO also records a rare transitive confare “to do together” in Tuscan texts of the late 13th and early 14th centuries.^[7]

DELI dates the sense “to benefit” to Baldassare Castiglione, who died in 1529.^[2] The adjective confacente “suitable” follows before 1667, in G. A. Marini.^[2] Today the verb is literary and is used almost only in the third person of the simple tenses.^[6][9][10]

Timeline

• c. 1224 – Saint Francis of Assisi writes se konfano in the Laudes creaturarum.^[7][2]
• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses the verb for what suits each part of a plant.^[7]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni writes that the virtues befit great and noble men.^[7]
• Before 1529 – Baldassare Castiglione uses it in the sense “to benefit”.^[2]
• Before 1667 – confacente is recorded in G. A. Marini.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be suitable or appropriate, to suit, usually in the third person: quel tono non si confà a un giudice.^{[4][10][5][1]}
2. (archaic) To be in proportion, to correspond.^[4][10][5]
3. To do good, to benefit, especially of health: il clima umido non mi si confà.^[4][10][11]

Word family

• confacente
• confacevole

Related words

• fare
• addirsi
• Latin cōnficiō

Usage notes

It is conjugated like fare (si confà, si confanno, si confaceva) and is used mostly in the third person; the past participle confatto is rare.^{[10][5][6][1]} A synonym is addirsi.^[5][6] Wiktionary also lists the form confare.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)