descrivere

Forms

descrivere (first-person singular present descrìvo, first-person singular past historic descrìssi, past participle descrìtto, auxiliary avére)^[1] An older form Old Italian discrivere is recorded by the historical dictionaries.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin dēscrībere (“to copy from a model, transcribe”).^[5][6][7][1] The Latin verb is formed from dē- and scrībō (“to write”), so its first sense was “to write by drawing from a model”.^[5][8][9] Latin also gave Italian the derivatives of the same verb: dēscrīptīvus (Late Latin), dēscrīptor (Late Latin) and dēscrīptiō (“transcription”), which became descrittivo, descrittore and descrizione.^[5][6]

The same Latin verb gave French décrire, Spanish describir and Portuguese descrever.^[6][10] DEI compares the form Old French descrire of the 12th century.^[11] The LEI files the Italian verb among the learned continuations of the Latin word.^[12]

The Latin verb for “to write” has cognates in Oscan and Umbrian, and de Vaan compares Latvian skrīpât (“to scratch, scribble”) and Old Norse hrífa (“to scratch, tear”).^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Lombard Istoria of the Pseudo-Uguccione, from the first half of the 13th century, and its first sense is “to trace meaningful signs”: to write or draw.^[14] DELI dates the sense “to portray in words” to Giordano da Pisa's sermons of 1303–1306 and the sense “to draw” to Dante, before 1321.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb for writing and drawing, for leaving a trace in the mind, for entering names in a register, for describing a thing by listing its features and for defining a concept.^[14] Dante's Purgatorio has the angel mark seven P's on his forehead with the point of his sword (Sette P ne la fronte mi descrisse), a sense the modern dictionaries call literary.^[15][16][7]

The sense of tracing a figure survived in geometry (descrivere un cerchio col compasso) and was extended to any moving body that traces a path, such as a planet in its orbit.^[15][7][17] The old administrative sense “to register, enrol”, used for soldiers and for land and population records, is now obsolete.^[18][17][11] In textual criticism a codice descritto translates Latin codex descriptus, a manuscript copied from one that survives, which keeps the Latin sense “to copy”.^[15]

Timeline

• First half of the 13th century – the Pseudo-Uguccione's Istoria has the verb in the sense “to write, draw”.^[14]
• 1303–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses descrivere for portraying things or people in words.^[5]
• Early 14th century – Guido da Pisa uses the noun descrizione.^[5]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it in the sense “to draw”.^[5]
• Before 1375 – descrittivo is recorded in Boccaccio.^[5]
• 1525 – Mario Equicola uses descrittore for “one who describes”.^[5]
• 1731 – the fourth Crusca dictionary records descrivibile.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To describe: to portray a place, thing or person in words, spoken or written, bringing out its features: Prova a descrivermi la casa dove sei cresciuto.^[7][16][9]
2. To recount an event in detail, to narrate it: Il testimone descrisse l’incidente alla polizia.^[7][16][18]
3. To depict by a means other than words, especially a visual one: La tela descrive una festa di paese.^[7][16]
4. To trace a line or figure, in geometry or of a body in motion: La palla descrisse un arco sopra la difesa.^[7][16][17]
5. (literary) To draw, mark: Sette P ne la fronte mi descrisse (Dante).^[16][17]
6. (archaic) To enter in a register, such as a land or population register; to enrol.^[7][16][18]
7. (reflexive) descriversi: to present oneself, to portray one's own character or appearance.^[17][9][16]

Word family

• descrizione
• descrittivo
• descrittore
• descrivibile
• indescrivibile
• descrittivismo
• ridescrivere

Related words

• scrivere
• Latin dēscrībō
• French décrire

Usage notes

DEI records a separate Old Paduan verb descrivere “to strike out, cancel” from the 13th century, which it derives from scrivere with the prefix des-.^[11] The verb is conjugated like scrivere (descrissi, descritto).^[16][17][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
4. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1259
12. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 1393
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
15. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
17. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
18. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana