deporre

Forms

deporre (first-person singular present depóngo, first-person singular past historic depósi, past participle depósto or depòsto, first-person singular imperfect deponévo, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dēpōnō (“to put down, lay aside; to depose”),^[2][3][4][1] formed from Latin dē- (“down”) + pōnō (“to put”).^[2][3] Its shape follows porre, with the same contraction of the infinitive;^[5][6] the uncontracted form deponere survives in Old Italian and the dialects,^[7] and DEI calls the verb semi-learned.^[8] Prati takes the old form diporre as a sign of its age.^[9]

The same verb is Romanian depune, Old Occitan deponre, Spanish deponer and Portuguese depor, but French does not have it;^[7][8] Friulian davoni means “to beat down nuts or chestnuts”.^[10][8] De Vaan derives the simple Latin verb from Proto-Italic *po-sine/o- (“to put down”), built like sinō (“to let”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Venetian version of the Pamphilus from about 1250.^[12] DELI's first records are in Dante, before 1321, for “to put down”, and in Malispini for “to remove from office”.^[2] In Inferno XIX Dante writes that his master de la sua anca / non mi dipuose, “did not set me down from his hip”.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The Old Italian verb had a wide range: to take down, to lower a sail, to remove from office, to degrade, to lay something down with care, to store, to bury, to entrust and to pay money to an authority.^[12] Diporre “to deposit with a bank or pawnbroker” is found in 1294,^[7] and the sense “to take something off” appears in the 14th-century Bible translation.^[2]

The legal sense “to testify in court” is first found in Ariosto in 1523, and deporre in favore, to speak in favour of a person or thing, in Panzini in 1918.^[2] Deponente, the Latin verb that has “laid aside” its passive meaning, is recorded in 1540, and deposizione as the Deposition from the Cross in Vasari (1550) and as a witness's statement in Bandello (1554).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – A Venetian version of the Pamphilus has the verb.^[12]
• 1294 – Diporre “to deposit” is recorded.^[7]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for “to put down”.^[2]
• 1523 – Ariosto uses it for “to testify”.^[2]
• 1540 – Deponente is used of Latin verbs.^[2]
• 1550 – Vasari uses deposizione for the Deposition from the Cross.^[2]
• 1918 – Panzini has deporre in favore.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To put down, set down, lay down: Depose lo zaino accanto alla porta.^[4][14][15]
2. To lower, take down: Deposero il quadro dalla parete..^[4][14][16]
3. To take off (clothes and the like).^[4][14][15]
4. To deposit, leave as sediment.^[4][17][16]
5. Of birds and some other animals, to lay (eggs).^[4][15][1]
6. (figurative) To give up, abandon (a plan, a feeling); deporre le armi, to stop fighting;^[4][14][15] deporre la corona, to abdicate.^[4][14][15]
7. To resign (an office or rank).^[4][15][16]
8. To depose, remove from office: Il consiglio depose il presidente.^[4][17][15]
9. (law) To testify, give evidence: deporre il falso.^[4][17][16]
10. (intransitive, figurative) Of a thing, to tell in favour of or against: Le prove depongono a suo favore.^[4][15][16]

Word family

• deposto
• deponimento
• rideporre

Related words

• deponente
• deposizione
• porre
• Latin depono

Usage notes

It is conjugated like porre: depongo, deposi, deposto.^[14][1] Old forms are diporre and deponere.^[14][18][13] Treccani notes that deporre is more formal than posare and suggests that the object will not be taken up again soon.^[18]

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 k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 135
7. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 1244
8. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1252
9. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 369
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
13. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 4, 202
14. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
18. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)