dimenticare

Forms

dimenticare (first-person singular present diméntico, first-person singular past historic dimenticài, past participle dimenticàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian dementicare, Old Italian dementegare, Old Italian domenticare and Old Italian dismenticare.^[2][3] Dismenticare is still used in some regions.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin dēmenticāre (“to go out of one's mind”), a verb of the Latin glosses.^[6][7][8][3] DELI and Devoto derive it from dēmenticus (“out of one's mind”), made of dē- and Latin mēns (“mind”);^[6][9][10] Nocentini from dēmentīre (“to lose one's reason”).^[7] The LEI notes that the sense “to go mad” came first and has not survived, so that the Italian verb continues only the later sense “not to remember”.^[3] Wiktionary starts from Vulgar Latin *dismenticāre with another prefix.^[1]

The verb belongs to Italy: DEI finds it in the Italian area except the far South, and the LEI adds an Engadine form.^[11][3] Dalmatian dementicur and Sardinian ismenticare were taken from Italian.^[1] The Latin noun mēns goes back to Proto-Indo-European *mn̥-ti- (“thought, mind”).^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Storie de Troja et de Roma, written in Roman dialect between 1252 and 1258.^[2] The LEI finds dementicare in a Tuscan translation of Albertano da Brescia of 1268, and dimenticare in Brunetto Latini about 1260–1261.^[3] DELI's first date is Bono Giamboni, before 1292, in the sense “to lose the memory of things”.^[6][13]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already had most of the modern senses: “to forgive” (14th century, Bible translations), “to leave out, not mention” (before 1342, Cavalca) and “to leave an object behind” (1353, Boccaccio).^[6] The TLIO adds “to neglect someone”, “to give up a custom” and “to fail to do something”.^[2] Cecco Angiolieri writes that poverty had made him almost forget his lady's name: “'l nome ho già quasi dimenticato”.^[13]

Dimenticanza “forgetfulness” is recorded in Bono Giamboni, dimentico “forgetful” in Giordano da Pisa (1303–1306), and the jocular dimenticatoio, the imaginary place where forgotten things end up, before 1565 in Varchi.^[6] Indimenticabile dates from the 18th century;^[7][6] DELI thinks dimenticabile was drawn from it.^[7][6] Tommaseo distinguished dimenticare, a more deliberate forgetting or neglect, from the pronominal dimenticarsi, which is often involuntary.^[14]

Timeline

• 1252–1258 – The verb appears in the Roman Storie de Troja et de Roma.^[2]
• c. 1260–1261 – Brunetto Latini uses dimenticare.^[3]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses the verb and dimenticanza.^[6]
• 1303–1306 – Dimentico “forgetful” is recorded in Giordano da Pisa.^[6]
• 1353 – Boccaccio uses it for leaving something behind.^[6]
• Before 1565 – Dimenticatoio appears in Varchi.^[6]
• 18th century – Indimenticabile is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To forget, to lose the memory of something or someone; with di and an infinitive or che: Ho dimenticato il titolo di quel film, Non dimenticare di chiudere il gas.^{[8][15][10][16]}
2. To neglect, to leave someone without care or affection: Con gli anni ha dimenticato i vecchi amici.^[8][15][16]
3. To overlook, to forgive: Cerchiamo di dimenticare quello che è successo.^[8][16][4]
4. To leave something somewhere by mistake: Ho dimenticato l'ombrello in treno.^[8][15][10]
5. dimenticarsi (di): not to remember, to forget: Mi sono dimenticata del compleanno di mia sorella.^[15][16][5]

Word family

• dimenticanza
• dimentico
• dimenticatoio
• indimenticabile
• dimenticabile
• dimenticone

Related words

• mente
• demente
• scordare

Usage notes

The pronominal dimenticarsi takes essere; it can have a direct object (mi sono dimenticato il libro) or di.^[16][10] The synonym scordare is more colloquial, obliare literary.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 982
4. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
5. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
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, 465
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ 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
16. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli