destare

Forms

destare (first-person singular present désto or dèsto, first-person singular past historic destài, past participle destàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old northern forms without syncope include Milanese dexedhar (Bonvesin, before 1315), Genoese desear and Mantuan dexedar.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *deexcitāre, “to call out (of sleep)”, formed from dē- and Latin excitō (“to rouse, wake”).^[3][4][5][6] The Latin verb is formed from ex- and citō (“to set in motion”).^[7][8] The prefix strengthens the meaning.^[5] Devoto explains the form by the regular loss of the short pretonic vowel.^[8]

The LEI takes the Vulgar Latin verb as old because it has outcomes across Romance: Romanian deștepta, Aromanian dišteptu, Romansh dažder and Old Occitan descidar.^[2] Meyer-Lübke explains the Romanian form by the influence of Romanian aștepta (“to wait”).^[6] In Italy the word is northern and Tuscan, missing in Venetian and Friulian, and returns in the southern dialects as Neapolitan scetare.^[9][6] The LEI sorts the Italian forms by the time of syncope: unsyncopated northern forms like Old Italian desedare beside the syncopated standard form.^[2]

The short participle desto “awake” is formed from the verb.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The 13th-century Istorietta troiana has the first record in the sense “to wake from sleep”: Allora destaro Paris (“then they woke Paris”).^[3][10] The TLIO's first record is Milanese, in the poems of Bonvesin de la Riva.^[11]

Semantic evolution

By the end of the 13th century the verb was used figuratively: “to shake out of inertia” in G. Cavalcanti, and “to arouse feelings” in Neri de' Visdomini.^[3] The reflexive destarsi “to wake up” is in Giordano da Pisa (1303–1306), “to rouse oneself” in G. Colombini (before 1367), and “to arise” in M. Villani (before 1363).^[3]

Dante has come persona ch'è per forza desta “like one woken by force”, and Petrarch uses the verb too.^[10] Today destare is literary for “to wake”, beside the everyday svegliare, and common in destare ammirazione, scalpore “to arouse admiration, a stir”.^[12][13][5] The proverb non destare il can che dorme “let sleeping dogs lie” warns against stirring up quiet trouble.^[14][15]

Timeline

• 13th century – Istorietta troiana uses destare “to wake”.^[3]
• Before 1300 – G. Cavalcanti uses it figuratively.^[3]
• Late 13th century – Neri de' Visdomini: “to arouse feelings”.^[3]
• 1303–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses destarsi “to wake up”.^[3]
• Early 14th century – Desto “awake” is recorded.^[4]
• Before 1363 – M. Villani uses destarsi “to arise”.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (literary) To wake, awaken: lo destò il rumore della pioggia.^[5][12][13]
2. (figurative) To stir from inertia or torpor: destare le menti.^[5][12][13]
3. (figurative) To arouse or give rise to a feeling or reaction: destare curiosità, destare sospetti.^[5][12][16]
4. (reflexive, destarsi) To wake up; figuratively, to rouse oneself, or to arise, as a feeling or a wind.^[12][15][17]

Word family

• ridestare
• desto
• destamento
• destatore

Related words

• eccitare
• svegliare
• Latin excitō

Usage notes

The first person singular is désto or dèsto.^[14][17][1] Besides the regular participle destato there is the short form desto, now used mainly as an adjective.^[13][15]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 650
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1264
10. ^ 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, 259
11. ^ Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
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. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli