covare

Forms

covare (first-person singular present cóvo, first-person singular past historic covài, past participle covàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cubō (“to lie down, recline”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb meant to lie on a couch or in bed; in Romance it narrowed to “to sit on eggs”, taking over the sense of the compound incubō (“to lie on”).^[5][6][7][8] The nouns cova and covo were formed from the verb without a suffix, and the second, a lair, keeps something of the older, wider meaning.^[2][7]

The same verb is French couver, Occitan coar, Catalan covar and Sardinian cuare (“to hide”).^[3][9] The learned cubare is a doublet.^[1][10]

DELI calls the Latin verb of uncertain origin.^[2] It goes back to Proto-Italic *kubāō.^[1] Its nasal-infixed form appears in compounds such as incumbō (“to lean on”) (whence incombere), and Nocentini puts it in one family with cumba (“hollow”) and cubitus (“elbow”).^[3] Wiktionary compares Welsh cysgu (“to sleep”), the English word hip and Ancient Greek κύβος (kúbos, “vertebra”), and gives a PIE root Proto-Indo-European *ḱewb-.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Bergamasque paraphrase of the Ten Commandments, perhaps of the mid-13th century;^[11][2] DELI's first date is before 1292, from B. Giamboni, for a bird sitting on its eggs to warm them.^[11][2] Giamboni says that partridges steal one another's eggs, but the chicks, on hearing their true mother's call, leave the one that hatched them.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Figurative senses came early: “to watch over jealously” in a 13th-century translation of Seneca, “to nurse a feeling in secret” in the 14th century, and intransitive “to lie hidden” in Petrarch.^[2] Old Italian also used it for crouching by the fire like a brooding hen, for lying or being situated, and for rainwater standing still.^[11] The verb is also used of a disease one is incubating.^[4][12]

Set phrases show the hidden, smouldering sense: covare sotto la cenere, of a fire or a passion that goes on without breaking out, and qui gatta ci cova, there is something fishy here.^[4][13][12] Covare le lenzuola is to idle in bed.^[13][12] Among the derivatives, covo, a lair (about 1350), took the sense “hideout of a gang” in the 19th century.^[2]

Timeline

• Mid-13th century(?) – the verb appears in a Bergamasque paraphrase of the Decalogue.^[11]
• Before 1292 – B. Giamboni uses it of birds sitting on eggs.^[2]
• 13th century – the sense “to watch over jealously” appears in a translation of Seneca.^[2]
• About 1350 – the noun covo “lair” appears in the Italian translation of Crescenzi.^[2]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses covare intransitively, “to lie hidden”.^[2]
• 1437–1438 – L. B. Alberti uses cova, the brooding of birds.^[2]
• Before 1484 – L. Pulci uses covata, a clutch.^[2]
• Before 1861 – I. Nievo uses covo for a secret meeting place.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) Of birds and other egg-laying animals, to sit on eggs to keep them warm until they hatch; to brood, incubate; also used without an object, and of keeping the chicks warm under the wings: la gallina cova da una settimana.^{[4][14][10][1]}
2. (transitive, figurative) To guard jealously; to cosset: quei genitori covano troppo il loro unico figlio.^[4][14][10]
3. (transitive, figurative) To nurse a feeling or plan in secret: covava da anni un rancore verso il cugino.^{[4][14][13][1]}
4. (transitive) To be incubating an illness: credo di covare un raffreddore.^[4][14][15]
5. (intransitive) To lie hidden, to be latent; of fire, to smoulder: il fuoco covava sotto la cenere, qui gatta ci cova.^[4][13][1]
6. (obsolete) Of still water, to stagnate.^[4][13][11]

Word family

• cova
• covata
• covo
• covatura
• covaticcio
• covatoio
• covatore
• covatrice
• accovacciarsi
• scovare

Related words

• cubare
• incubare
• covile
• incombere
• Latin cubo

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1141
6. ^ 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, 925
7. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ 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
15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana