conquidere

Forms

conquidere (first-person singular present conquìdo, first-person singular past historic conquìsi, past participle conquìso, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old Italian forms include conquider, conquis and conquixo.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin conquīrō (“to seek out, collect”), from con- and quaerō (“to seek, ask”), with the first ⟨r⟩ dissimilated to ⟨d⟩ before the second, as in chiedere.^[3][4][5][1] GRADIT and the DEI point to a Medieval Latin conquīdō of the 10th century.^[6][7] The other Romance languages replaced the stressed ⟨i⟩ with the ⟨e⟩ of the simple verb: Old French conquerre (modern French conquérir), Old Occitan conquerre, conquerir in Old Spanish, and Romanian cuceri.^[4][7] The same Latin verb is the source of conquistare.^[4][8]

The sense “to fret, grieve” may have been influenced by conqueror (“to complain”).^[7][9] De Vaan traces the simple verb through Proto-Italic *kwai-s-e/o- to Proto-Indo-European *kweh₂-i- (“to acquire”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the poem Resplendiente of Giacomino Pugliese, of 1234–1235, and DELI's is Giacomo da Lentini before 1250, both poets of the Sicilian school; the sense is “to conquer, overcome”.^[2][3] Giacomo da Lentini also has the past participle conquiso.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb for taking a country by force of arms and defeating an enemy, for killing (conquidere a morte), for plundering, and figuratively for love that conquers the heart.^[2] Iacopone wrote aiol morto e conquiso, “I have killed and destroyed him”, and Villani that the enemy had conquiso Castruccio.^[9][11] Petrarch's line la beltà che m'have il cor conquiso, “the beauty that has conquered my heart”, set the literary sense “to captivate”.^[6][11] Dante used it for “to disfigure”, of a face no longer recognisable.^[6][8]

Later it also meant “to pester with requests”, and the pronominal conquidersi “to fret, torment oneself”.^[6][12][7] Today the verb is literary, used by Monti, Carducci and Ada Negri.^[12][13][5]

Timeline

• 10th century – Medieval Latin conquidere is recorded.^[7]
• 1234–1235 – Giacomino Pugliese uses the verb in Resplendiente.^[2]
• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses conquidere and conquiso.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, literary) To defeat, overcome or conquer: L'esercito conquise la città dopo un lungo assedio.^{[6][14][5][12][13][1]}
2. (transitive, figurative, literary) To captivate, win over or seduce.^{[6][14][5][12]}
3. (transitive, rare) To pester with requests, to harass.^[6][12][15]
4. (transitive, obsolete) To spoil or disfigure.^[6][12]

Word family

• conquiso

Related words

• conquistare
• chiedere
• Latin conquiro

Usage notes

The past historic is conquisi, conquidesti and the past participle conquiso.^[14][12][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1066
8. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 322
9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
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 Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli