dimorare

Forms

dimorare (first-person singular present dimòro, first-person singular past historic dimorài, past participle dimoràto, auxiliary avére or (more rarely) èssere)^[1] There was also Old Italian demorare, the usual form in the north and in Arezzo, Todi and Rome, and Ligurian domorare.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dēmoror (“to linger, keep waiting”), a deponent verb that later Latin also used in the active form dēmorāre.^[4][5][6][2] That verb is formed from Latin dē- + moror (“to delay”), and moror comes from mora (“delay”).^[4][5][7] The prefix strengthens the sense of the simple verb, according to GRADIT and the GDLI.^[8][9] Devoto thought the Italian prefix ⟨di-⟩ was influenced by the preposition di.^[10]

The same verb lives on in French demeurer, Occitan demorar, Catalan demorar, Spanish demorar and Portuguese demorar, and in Romansh dimorar.^[5][11][2] DEI calls it pan-Romance but missing from Romanian.^[12] Dialects keep it as southern Neapolitan addimurari (“to linger”) and Piedmontese demurese (“to amuse oneself”).^[12][11]

De Vaan traces the noun to Proto-Italic *morH-ā- and Proto-Indo-European *morh₂-, comparing Old Irish maraid (“lasts, remains”).^[7] The Latin verb may be derived from the noun or be an old iterative verb.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Cremonese poems of Uguccione da Lodi, early in the 13th century, with the sense of lingering in a state or condition, spending time in it while waiting.^[3][2] Around 1230–1250 Giacomo da Lentini used it of staying in a place: Troppo son dimorato / in lontano paisi (“I have stayed too long in a distant land”).^[9][4]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb covered both time and place: to delay or tarry, to stop somewhere for a while, and to live in a place.^[3][2] Dante has the old sense of standing still: pilgrims che va col cuore e col corpo dimora (“who go in their heart and stay still in their body”).^[8][13] It could also mean to keep someone back, and to persist in a habit or state, as in dimorare nel vizio.^[6][14]

From 1547 it also meant dwelling on a subject in speech or writing.^[2] Today dimorare is a formal verb for living or staying in a place, also figuratively of a feeling present in someone; the senses “to linger” and “to stand still” are literary or obsolete.^[8][14][15] The noun dimora, a back-formation from the verb, first meant “delay”.^[4] From Dante on it also meant “stay” and “dwelling”, like French demeure.^[4][2]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi (Cremona) has demorare “to linger in a condition”.^[3]
• Early 13th century – Dimora “delay” appears in Rinaldo d'Aquino.^[4]
• c. 1230–1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses dimorare of staying in a place.^[2][4]
• 1282 – Aretine demorare is recorded in Restoro d'Arezzo.^[2]
• 1301 – Venetian demorare appears in a chronicle of the emperors.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses dimora for a dwelling.^[4]
• 1547 – Nardi uses dimorare in for dwelling on a subject.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To dwell, reside, to have one's home in a place for a time or for good: La sorella dimora da anni a Bologna.^[8][13][14]
2. (figurative) Of a feeling, to be present in someone.^[14][6]
3. (literary) To linger, to delay.^[8][13][15]
4. (archaic) To stop or stay somewhere; to stand still.^[13][15][8]
5. (obsolete) To persist in a habit or state.^[6][14]

Word family

• dimora
• dimorante
• dimoranza
• dimoramento
• addimorare

Related words

• mora
• French demeurer

Usage notes

The auxiliary is avere, less often essere.^[13][15][1]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 1029
3. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ 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, 478
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1307
13. ^ 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
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 Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana