difendere

Forms

difendere (first-person singular present difèndo, first-person singular past historic difési, past participle diféso, auxiliary avére)^[1] The older form is Old Italian defendere, and many dialect forms are recorded in Old Italian texts: Venetian defender, Sienese difendare, Roman defennere and Messinese difendiri.^[2][3] The participle was once also defenso.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dēfendō (“to ward off; to protect”).^[5][6][2][1] The Latin verb is a compound of dē- (“away”) and *fendō (“to strike”), which is found only in compounds, as in offendō.^[5][6][7][1] Its first sense was “to drive back an enemy”, and, from it came “to protect”.^[8][4]

The verb lives on in French défendre, Occitan defendre, Catalan defendre, Spanish defender and Portuguese defender.^[6][9] The LEI adds Romansh defender and Logudorese defèndere;^[3] DEI, by contrast, calls the word pan-Romance except in Sardinian and Romanian.^[10] It was borrowed into Greek, Welsh and Basque.^[9][10] The old sense “to forbid” came from French défendre.^[11][4]

Latin *fendō goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen- (“to strike, kill”), the root of Ancient Greek θείνω (theínō, “to strike”) and Sanskrit हन्ति (hánti, “strikes”).^[1][7][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the Breve di Montieri of 1219, a Tuscan statute, with the sense “to protect people or things from danger, harm or violence”.^[5] GRADIT dates the old form defendere to the first half of the 13th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb for armed resistance to an attack, for protecting oneself, for sheltering from weather, for taking someone's side against accusations and, in law and trade, for guaranteeing a possession or a contract.^[12] In the 14th century the legal senses, pleading a client's case and upholding rights, are recorded;^[5] Dante (before 1321) has the reflexive “to protect oneself” and Brunetto Latini (before 1294) “to argue one's case”.^[5] It also meant “to prevent” and “to forbid”, as in Dante and Ariosto.^[11][13]

The derivatives came partly from Latin: difesa (1293–1294, Dante) is Late Latin defensa, and difensore (before 1294, Brunetto Latini) is Latin defensor.^[5][6] Difesa gained the senses of the legal defence (1518–1525), the military defences (before 1540) and, in sport, the defenders of a team (1927). The phrase stare sulla difensiva, “to be on the defensive”, is from before 1680.^[5] In modern colloquial use difendersi also means “to get by, manage”.^[14][13]

Timeline

• 1219 – The Breve di Montieri uses the verb for protecting people and property.^[5]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses difendersi “to argue one's case” and difensore.^[5]
• 1293–1294 – Dante uses difesa.^[5]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses it for taking someone's side and for pleading in court.^[5]
• Before 1540 – Difensivo is recorded in Guicciardini.^[5]
• Before 1680 – Stare sulla difensiva is recorded in Montecuccoli.^[5]
• 1869 – Legittima difesa, self-defence in law, is recorded by Tommaseo–Bellini.^[5]
• 1927 – Difesa is used of the defenders in football.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To defend, protect from danger or attack: I soldati difesero il ponte per tre giorni.^[2][8][14]
2. To try to keep something against those who would take it: La squadra deve difendere il vantaggio fino alla fine..^[2][8]
3. To uphold an idea or person against criticism; to take someone's side or excuse them: Mio fratello mi difende sempre.^[2][14][15]
4. To safeguard rights, interests or a reputation.^[2][8][13]
5. To shelter from sun, wind or dust: Il cappello ti difende dal sole.^[2][8]
6. (law) To act as counsel for someone in court: Un avvocato giovane difenderà l'accusato..^[8][14][15]
7. (sport) To play in defence.^[2][8]
8. (archaic) To forbid; to prevent.^[2][15][13]
9. (reflexive, difendersi) To defend oneself, resist, (colloquial) to get by, manage reasonably well: In cucina mi difendo.^[14][15][13]

Word family

• difesa
• difensore
• difensivo
• difensiva
• difeso
• difendibile
• difendersi
• difenditore
• difendimento

Related words

• offendere
• Latin dēfendō
• French défendre

Usage notes

Difendere a spada tratta means to defend someone wholeheartedly, to the bitter end.^[2][15]

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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 681
4. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 4, 369
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1295
11. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 376
12. ^ Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
13. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli