dire

Forms

dire (first-person singular present dìco, first-person singular past historic dìssi, past participle détto, first-person singular imperfect dicévo, second-person singular imperative dì' or (with syntactic gemination after the verb, with written accent) dì, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dīcō (“to say”), from the infinitive ⟨dīcere⟩ shortened to two syllables;^[2][3][4][1] the full form survives in Old Italian dicere.^[5][6] The LEI supposes that a short infinitive circulated in Italo-Romance, made after ⟨fare⟩, which had itself been remade on ⟨dare⟩;^[7] Devoto likewise sets “dire” beside “fare” and Latin faciō, with the influence of “dare”.^[8]

The same word is French dire, Occitan dire, Catalan dir, Spanish decir, Portuguese dizer, Romanian zice and Dalmatian dekro.^[3][9][7]

In Latin the verb first meant “to show”, then “to make known by speech, to say”, and was used at first in solemn, religious and technical settings.^[2] It goes back through Proto-Italic *deikō to Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show, point out”),^[1][3] the root also of Ancient Greek δείκνυμι (deíknumi, “to show”), Sanskrit दिशति (diśáti, “to show”), Old High German zeigōn (German zeigen (“to show”)) and English teach.^[3][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a book of accounts of 1211, in the sense “to utter, to say”.^[2][4] The noun, “the act and manner of saying”, appears early in the 13th century in Odo delle Colonne.^[2][11]

Semantic evolution

The senses “to tell, to narrate” (before 1294, Brunetto Latini) and the impersonal “it is said, people say” (before 1292, Bono Giamboni) follow within the century, and “to recite” is recorded before 1342 in Domenico Cavalca.^[2] Dante still used the longer dicere beside dire, and in the Paradiso speaks of lo dicer mio, “my speech”.^[5][12] In the Vita Nuova (1292–1293) the verb already means to express or suggest a feeling.^[7]

Several derivatives come from the old dicere: dicitore “speaker, poet” (second half of the 12th century) and diceria “rumour” (14th century).^[3] Disdetta meant the cancelling of an obligation from the 14th century, and in the 16th took the sense “bad luck” after Spanish desdicha.^[3] From the past participle came Old Italian detta, luck at play, and, through Venetian dita, Italian ditta “firm”.^[9]

Today dire is one of the commonest verbs, and stands for more precise ones (to recite, to report, to claim, to answer) according to context.^[4][1] In the form volere dire it means “to mean”.^[6]

Timeline

• 1211 – Dire “to utter” is first recorded, in a book of accounts.^[2]
• Early 13th century – Odo delle Colonne uses the noun dire.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses the impersonal “it is said”.^[2]
• 1292–1293 – Dante's Vita Nuova uses dire for expressing a feeling.^[7]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses dire for “to narrate”.^[2]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses dire for “to recite”.^[2]
• 16th century – Disdetta takes the sense “bad luck” after Spanish desdicha.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To say, to utter, to express in words: Non ha detto una parola tutta la sera.^[4][13]
2. To recite (a prayer, a poem, a lesson); dire messa, to celebrate mass.^[4][6][14]
3. To tell, to relate, to report: Dimmi com'è andata.^[4]
4. To state, to claim, to maintain: Dice di non saperne niente.^[4][13]
5. Of a text, to say, to contain: Che cosa dice il giornale?^[6][4]
6. With volere, to mean: Che cosa vuol dire questa parola?^[6][1]
7. (figurative) To mean something to someone, to appeal: Questa musica non mi dice niente.^[4]
8. (figurative) To show, to prove: Questo ti dice quanto ci tiene.^[4]
9. (reflexive, impersonal) To be called in a language: Come si dice “libro” in tedesco?^[6]

Noun

1. Speech, the act of saying; what is said.^[11][5][4]

Word family

• diceria
• dicitore
• dizione
• disdire
• disdetta
• indire
• indizione
• predire
• predizione
• sopraddetto
• suddetto
• contraddire
• detto
• dicibile
• dicitura

Related words

• addire
• benedire
• dettare
• dicace
• dicesi
• dirsi
• dizionario
• maledire
• ridire

Usage notes

The imperative is di’, written dì only by mistake.^[14][15] The fixed phrase dire pane al pane e vino al vino means to speak plainly, and a dir poco means “to say the least”.^[4] A minor homograph, the plural Dire “the Furies”, is a learned word from Latin Dirae, first used by Ciampolo di Meo Ugurgieri in 1340.^[16][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 20, 262
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
11. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 4, 525
13. ^ a b 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 Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it