disertare

Forms

disertare (first-person singular present disèrto, first-person singular past historic disertài, past participle disertàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian desirtare in the Judaeo-Italian Elegia, and Old Italian desertare, common in northern and southern texts;^[2][3][4] desertare was still written in the 17th and 18th centuries.^[2][3][4] The old past participle is diserto.^[5][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin dēsertō (“to abandon”), a Late Latin verb recorded in Apponius in the 6th century, made from dēsertus (“abandoned, deserted”), the past participle of dēserō (“to abandon”).^[2][7][8][1] Devoto–Oli, Zingarelli and Gabrielli describe it as an intensive of dēserō.^[5][9][10] DELI counts the verb among the learned words, while the LEI files the old senses “to destroy, ravage” and “to abandon” among the inherited forms.^[2][11]

The Latin verb continued in Romanian deșerta (“to empty”), Old French deserter (“to ravage”) (about 1148, in the Chanson de Roland), Catalan desertar, Spanish desertar and Portuguese desertar, and with a change of conjugation in Old Occitan desertir.^[11] The military sense “to leave one's unit” is a loan from French déserter, recorded in French in 1680.^[11] In Sicily and Calabria disertari means “to miscarry”.^[8][11]

Devoto analyses dēserō as dē-, of separation, and serō (“to put in a row”).^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is desirtare in the Judaeo-Italian Elegia (12th–13th century): Lo tempio santo àbbero desirtato, “they laid waste the holy temple”.^[2][13] The TLIO's first record is in Uguccione da Lodi, of Cremona, early in the 13th century.^[4][3] In Old Italian the verb meant to ruin a person or a people, to bring to poverty, to defeat, to leave someone alone, and also to miscarry or make a woman miscarry.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses the verb for laying waste: che ’l giardin dell’Imperio sia diserto, “that the garden of the Empire be laid waste” (before 1321).^[2][13] Giovanni Villani writes of persecutors “rubando e disertando chiese e monisteri”.^[14] These senses of devastating and depopulating are now literary.^[15][9]

The military sense came in the 17th century: desertare is in a Medici document of 1675, desertare a “to go over to the enemy” in Muratori (before 1750), and disertare of soldiers leaving their unit from Pietro Verri (1797).^[2][11] It was soon used of anyone who leaves a party, cause or group they had joined (desertare 1792, disertare in Carlo Cattaneo, before 1869).^[2]

The nouns followed: disertore (before 1504, Pandolfo Collenuccio) and diserzione (deserzione 1708–1712, Magalotti, diserzione before 1764, Algarotti).^[2] Today the most common use is staying away from a place or event where one is expected: disertare le lezioni, disertare le urne.^[15][5][16]

Timeline

• 12th–13th century – Desirtare is used in the Judaeo-Italian Elegia.^[2]
• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses the verb.^[4]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses disertare.^[2]
• Before 1504 – Disertore is recorded in Pandolfo Collenuccio.^[2]
• 1675 – Desertare of a soldier deserting appears in a Medici document.^[2]
• Before 1750 – Muratori uses disertare in the military sense.^[2]
• 1792 – Desertare is used for leaving a group one had joined.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, military) To desert: to leave one's unit without permission, or not return after leave; also to go over to the enemy.^[15][9][6]
2. (intransitive, figurative) To abandon a party, cause or group one belonged to; to shirk a duty.^[15][5][16]
3. (transitive) To stay away from a place or event where one should be: disertare la riunione, disertare le urne (not to vote).^[15][5][9]
4. (transitive) To leave a place, often for good: molti giovani disertano i paesi di montagna.^[15][6][10]
5. (transitive, literary) To devastate, destroy; to depopulate; to strip someone of their goods.^[15][9][16]

Word family

• disertore
• diserzione
• disertamento
• disertatore

Related words

• deserto
• diserto
• French déserter

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 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
3. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
4. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1335
9. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
11. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 1413
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)