Etymologically
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disperato

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Pronunciation

  • /dis.peˈra.to/[1]

Forms

disperato (feminine disperata, masculine plural disperati, feminine plural disperate, superlative disperatissimo)[1] The old form desperato survives in literary use.[2][3] Old forms include Old Italian desperado, Old Italian desperad and Old Italian disperatu.[4]

Etymology

It is the past participle of disperare (“to despair”), used as an adjective and noun.[5][6][7] The verb is a learned word, borrowed from Latin dēspērāre (“to give up hope”), from dē- and spērō (“to hope”), and Latin had the participle dēspērātus (“despaired of”).[8][5] The LEI files the learned Romance forms under the Latin verb.[9] Devoto analysed the participle as if it were built on speranza with the privative prefix dis-.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Splanamento of the Cremonese poet Patecchio, of the 13th century.[4] DELI dates the sense “having lost all hope” to Malispini in the 13th century, with the construction disperato d'ogni soccorso, “despairing of all help”.[8][3]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word meant without hope, also of a sick man who could not recover and in religious language of one without trust in God's mercy, then in great suffering, especially in love poetry, and morally wicked.[4] As a noun it could even name the executioner.[4] The senses “in the grip of despair” and “caused by despair” are dated to Bono Giamboni before 1292 and Dante before 1321.[8] Dante writes of d'ogni dottrina disperati, people with no hope of any learning.[3]

Tommaseo records two old nouns: disperato “despair”, and a kind of popular poem, perhaps a lover's lament, listed by Varchi.[11] The phrase alla disperata “with fury, any old how” was already in use before 1375.[4][6] In familiar modern Italian a disperato is also a penniless person or a desperado.[12][13]

Timeline

  • 13th century – Patecchio's Splanamento has the first record.[4]
  • 13th century – Malispini uses the word for “having lost all hope”.[8]
  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for “in the grip of despair”.[8]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses it for “caused by despair”.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. desperate, hopeless, offering no hope of a good outcome: Le condizioni del ferito sono disperate.[12][6][7]
  2. Done out of despair, with very little chance of success: un ultimo, disperato tentativo.[12][6]
  3. Expressing despair: un grido disperato.[12][7]
  4. Intense, frantic: una fuga disperata.[12]
  5. In despair, without hope: Era disperato per la perdita del lavoro. In weaker use, very worried: Sono disperata, ho perso il telefono![12][6][14]

Noun

  1. A person who has lost all hope or is in despair, studiare come un disperato, to work frantically.[12][2]
  2. (colloquial) A penniless person with no job or position; a desperado with nothing to lose.[12][13]

Word family

  • disperatamente

Usage notes

Alla disperata means hastily, furiously, or any old how: fare le valigie alla disperata.[6][13][2]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  3. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 4, 724
  4. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  5. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  8. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  9. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 1496
  10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 147
  11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  12. ^ 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
  13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  14. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli