discutere

Forms

discutere (first-person singular present discùto, first-person singular past historic discùssi, past participle discùsso, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin discutiō (“to shake apart, disperse”), formed from dis- (“apart”) and quatiō (“to shake”).^[2][3][4][1] In Late and Christian Latin the verb came to mean “to examine, debate (a case)”.^[3][5][6] The ⟨qua⟩ of “quatiō” became ⟨cu⟩ in the inner syllable of the compound.^[7] The participle “discussus” gave Latin discussio, “a shaking” in classical Latin and “discussion” in Late Latin, the source of discussione.^[2][3] Old French kept the Latin verb by popular descent as Old French descourre (“to shake off”) and took the learned French discuter in the 13th century.^[8][9][6] The Spanish verb is discutir.^[3]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *kʷat-i- for “quatiō”; it may share a root “*(s)kuot-” with Old High German scutten (“to shake”), but he thinks it may not be Indo-European at all.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Sienese statutes of 1309–1310, of a matter debated between several people with opposing arguments.^[11] Zingarelli dates the word to 1310.^[12] DELI and GRADIT give Zanobi da Strata (before 1364).^[2][4] Boccaccio (before 1375) pairs disputare o discutere.^[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the verb for putting a measure to the vote of an assembly, for considering and weighing, and, closer to the Latin, for damaging deeply and driving away.^[11] In the 18th century physicians used it for dispersing humours.^[5][6]

Tommaseo distinguished it from dibattere: people debate a question in which each thinks he is right, while they discuss it to see it cleared up.^[13] The sense “to call into question” (non discuto la tua buona fede) is dated by DELI to Fogazzaro (1886), and “to quarrel” to Verga (1887).^[2] Discutere la tesi is to defend one's degree thesis, and discutere del sesso degli angeli is to argue over idle questions.^[14][15][4]

Timeline

• 1309–1310 – Sienese statutes use discutere.^[11]
• Before 1364 – Zanobi da Strata uses it in his translation of Gregory the Great.^[2][5]
• Before 1406 – Discussione is recorded in Francesco da Buti.^[2]
• 1796 – Mettere in discussione “to call into question” is recorded.^[2]
• 1869 – Tommaseo records discutibile.^[2]
• 1886 – Fogazzaro uses the verb in the sense “to question”.^[2]
• 1887 – Verga uses it in the sense “to quarrel”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To discuss, examine a question together, comparing views to reach a decision: Il consiglio comunale discuterà il bilancio domani.^[4][14][12]
2. (intransitive) To talk about, debate (with di or su): Abbiamo discusso di musica fino a mezzanotte.^[4][14][15]
3. To question, raise objections to: Nessuno discute la sua competenza.^[4][16][12]
4. To argue, quarrel: I vicini discutono ogni sera.^[4][14][12]

Word family

• discussione
• discusso
• discutibile
• discutibilità
• indiscusso
• ridiscutere
• discussore

Related words

• scuotere
• percuotere
• dibattere
• Latin discutio

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 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1334
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse