conquistare

Forms

conquistare (first-person singular present conquìsto, first-person singular past historic conquistài, past participle conquistàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *conquistāre, an intensive of Latin conquīrō (“to search out, collect”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Nocentini and DEI start from the fuller form conquisitāre, recorded in a Late Latin gloss, and Treccani and Wiktionary derive it from the past participle conquīsītus.^[7][8][9][1] The Latin verb is formed from con- and quaerō (“to seek”).^[10][11]

The Romance cognates are Spanish conquistar, Portuguese conquistar, Catalan conquistar and Occitan conquistar, and Old French conquester, from which comes French conquête (“conquest”).^[7][6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Tuscan text of Rinaldo d'Aquino, of the first half of the 13th century.^[12] In Old Italian the first sense was to win or obtain something one deserves, and DELI dates the sense “to acquire through hard work” from B. Giamboni, before 1292.^[12][2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the verb for buying, for catching a disease, and for winning a woman in battle.^[12] The military sense, to take by force of arms, is dated by DELI from Alberto della Piagentina, before 1332, and the noun conquista from the Italian Plutarch, before 1304.^[2] Villani speaks of conquering Tunis and its land, and Marco Polo of men who would conquer the whole world.^[13]

The sense to win someone's love, to seduce, appears before 1494 in M. M. Boiardo.^[2] The noun conquista took the sense of progress won through struggle, and of a success in love, before 1712 in L. Magalotti.^[2]

Timeline

• First half of the 13th century – Rinaldo d'Aquino uses conquistare.^[12]
• Before 1292 – B. Giamboni uses it for acquiring through effort.^[2]
• Before 1304 – The noun conquista appears in the Italian Plutarch.^[2]
• Early 14th century – Conquistatore appears in the Intelligenza.^[2]
• Before 1332 – Alberto della Piagentina uses it for military conquest.^[2]
• Before 1494 – M. M. Boiardo uses it for making someone fall in love.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To conquer: to take a city or territory by force of arms and hold it: Le truppe conquistarono il forte all'alba.^{[3][4][11][1]}
2. To obtain with effort and sacrifice, to achieve: conquistare un diritto.^[3][11] Also pronominal, conquistarsi, with intensive force.^{[3][4][11][5]}
3. (figurative) To win over, to charm: to win someone's sympathy or esteem.^[3][4][5]
4. (figurative) To make someone fall in love, to seduce.^{[3][4][11][9]}

Word family

• conquista
• conquistabile
• conquistatore
• riconquistare
• riconquista

Related words

• conquidere
• Latin conquīrō
• Spanish conquistar

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
7. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1066
9. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET