consacrare

Forms

consacrare (first-person singular present consàcro, first-person singular past historic consacrài, past participle consacràto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin cōnsacrō (“to make sacred”), a variant of cōnsecrō (“to consecrate, dedicate”).^[1][2][3] DEI and the GDLI call it a semi-learned word, and Zingarelli a learned one.^[4][5][6] DELI derives it from the older form with ⟨e⟩, which Italian remade on sacro, and Sabatini–Coletti also see that adjective in the ⟨a⟩.^[7][8]

The verb is from Latin con- + sacrō (“to dedicate”), and sacrō is made from sacer (“sacred, holy”).^[1][8] De Vaan traces sacer to Proto-Italic *sakro- (“sacred”) and Proto-Indo-European *sh₂k-ro-.^[9] The same Latin verb gave Old Occitan consagrar, Catalan consagrar, Spanish consagrar and Portuguese consagrar, and Welsh borrowed it as cyssegru.^[3][4] French consacrer continues it too.^[1]

The old forms consagrare and consegrare have the voiced /g/ of the northern dialects, through which they spread, according to Sabatini–Coletti.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in 13th-century Venetian prayers (Orazioni veneziane), and its first sense is “to make sacred”, mostly by a solemn religious rite.^[10] DELI's first date for that sense is Iacopone da Todi, who died in 1306.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb was used of the bread and wine of the Eucharist, of dedicating something to a god, of making a girl a nun, and of investing a bishop or a ruler with his office; it could also mean “to deify” and, figuratively, “to make someone's name immortal in verse”.^[10] Dino Compagni (1310–1312) is DELI's first record for conferring holy orders or a church dignity.^[7] Petrarch still wrote the older consecrare: Forse averrà che 'l bel nome gentile / Consecrerò con questa stanca penna (“Perhaps it will happen that I consecrate the fair noble name with this tired pen”).^[11]

The reflexive consacrarsi, to devote one's life to God, is first recorded in Daniello Bartoli (1681).^[7] Later the verb widened to dedicating a monument to the dead, devoting one's life to a cause, and to giving lasting approval: usage “consecrates” a word, a law a right.^[12][6][11] An old sense, “to bewitch with magic rites”, is now lost.^[11]

Timeline

• 13th century – Venetian prayers have the first record.^[10]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses it for making sacred by a rite.^[7]
• 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses it for conferring holy orders, and also consacrazione.^[7]
• 1354 – Iacopo Passavanti uses consacrazione for the central part of the Mass.^[7]
• 1681 – Daniello Bartoli has the reflexive consacrarsi, to devote oneself to God.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To consecrate: to make a church, an altar or a place sacred by a religious rite: consacrare la nuova cappella.^[12][13][6]
2. (Christianity) To consecrate the host, the bread and the wine, changing them into the body and blood of Christ during the Mass.^[12][6][11]
3. To ordain a priest or bishop, or to anoint a king or emperor in a religious rite: fu consacrato vescovo nel duomo.^[12][8][11]
4. To dedicate something to God, a saint, or the memory of heroes: consacrare un altare a San Rocco.^[12][6]
5. (figurative) To devote one's life, time or energy entirely to someone or something.^[13][11][1]
6. To make something worthy of reverence and memory: il sangue dei caduti ha consacrato questa collina.^[12][13]
7. To recognise someone solemnly with a title: la vittoria lo ha consacrato campione.^[8][6]
8. To sanction, make lawful or accepted: un'espressione consacrata dall'uso.^[8][6][11]
9. (reflexive, consacrarsi) To devote oneself to God, a cause or a task.^[6][11]

Word family

• consacrazione
• consacratore
• sconsacrare
• riconsacrare
• consacrabile
• consacramento
• consacrante

Related words

• sacro
• Latin cōnsecrō
• French consacrer

Usage notes

Consecrare is a literary variant, and consagrare and consegrare are old or regional.^[11][8] The past participle consacrato is also an adjective: l'ostia consacrata, the consecrated host.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
4. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1067
5. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 580
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
13. ^ 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