degnare

Forms

degnare (first-person singular present dégno, first-person singular past historic degnài, past participle degnàto, auxiliary avére or (alternatively when intransitive) èssere)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dignō (“to judge worthy”), with its deponent twin dignor.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb is formed from the adjective dignus (“worthy”), whose Italian outcome is degno.^[2][5][6] Its two basic Italian senses, agreeing to do something and holding someone worthy, were already Latin.^[7]

The word is found across Romance except in Romanian and Sardinian.^[8] It is Old French degnier (modern French daigner), Old Occitan denhar, Old Catalan denyar, Old Spanish deñar and Portuguese dignar; the Catalan dignarse and the Spanish dignarse are later learned forms.^[7][9][10]

The adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *dek-no-, from Proto-Indo-European *deḱ- (“to take”), and is related to decet and decus.^[1][11] The GDLI alone calls the Italian verb a learned word.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are from the early 13th century in the Cremonese poet Uguccione da Lodi, where the verb is followed by an infinitive and means to agree to do something, as an act of favour from a higher position.^[7][13] By the first half of the 13th century Cielo d'Alcamo uses it for agreeing to an act held to be beneath one's dignity.^[14][15]

Semantic evolution

The transitive sense “to judge worthy” is recorded in the 13th century in Monte Andrea.^[14] Old Italian also used the verb for giving honour and praise, for feeling oneself worthy of something, and, in religious texts, for the Incarnation, God deigning to take on human flesh.^[13] In negative sentences it came to mean not to bother to do something, and in polite requests it asked for the hearer's goodwill.^[13][7]

Boccaccio has a lady reproach visitors who come to her poor house but would not come while it was rich: dove, mentre che ricca fu, venir non degnaste.^[15][16] Manzoni addresses Christ with E Tu degnasti assumere Questa creata argilla (“And You deigned to take on this created clay”).^[4]

In modern use the transitive verb means to grant someone a sign of attention, often with a show of superiority, and the pronominal degnarsi is the common form for condescending to do something, often in irony.^[4][17] An older sense, accepting someone as a friend, is now rare.^[3][4]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses the verb with an infinitive.^[7][13]
• Before 1250 – Cielo d'Alcamo uses it for agreeing to do something beneath one's dignity.^[14][15]
• 13th century – Monte Andrea uses it for “to judge worthy”.^[14]
• 1292–1293 – Dante uses degnare di with an infinitive in the Vita Nuova.^[7]
• 1953 – Palazzeschi still uses the construction with a bare infinitive.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To consider someone worthy of a gesture and grant it, often condescendingly: non mi ha degnato nemmeno di un cenno.^[15][3][4]
2. (intransitive, literary) To deign to do something held to be beneath one's dignity.^[15][4][17]
3. (transitive, rare) To accept someone faithfully, as a friend.^[3][4]

Word family

• degnazione
• sdegnare
• degnamento
• degnevole

Related words

• degno
• disdegnare
• Latin dignus
• French daigner

Usage notes

In current use the pronominal degnarsi di with an infinitive is more common than the intransitive verb, often in polite or ironic requests such as si degni di leggere la mia lettera.^[4][17] The verb is conjugated like segnare.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 20, 461
8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1235
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 4, 128
13. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
16. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
17. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli