Etymologically
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dispiacere

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Pronunciation

  • /dis.pjaˈt͡ʃe.re/[1]

Forms

dispiacere (first-person singular present dispiàccio, first-person singular past historic dispiàcqui, past participle dispiaciùto, auxiliary èssere)[1] As a noun it is masculine, with the plural dispiaceri.[1][2] Old Italian texts have forms such as despiacere, despiaxer and despiaser, mostly from the north.[3] The Sicilian poet Stefano Protonotaro writes the noun displaciri.[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *displacēre, which replaced classical Latin displiceō (“to displease”): the spoken language rebuilt the verb from dis- and placeō (“to please”), restoring the vowel of the simple verb.[4][5][2][6][7] DEI and GDLI describe the same form as Medieval Latin ⟨displacere⟩, a recomposition of the classical verb.[8][9] Wiktionary analyses it simply as the prefix dis- added to piacere.[1]

The rebuilt verb is found across the Romance languages except Romanian and the dialects of southern Italy.[8] It is French déplaire, Old Occitan desplazer, Spanish desplacer and Portuguese desprazer.[10] The noun is the infinitive used as a noun, recorded from the late 13th century.[5][6][7][2]

For the Latin verb, de Vaan reconstructs a root Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂k- (“to agree, be pleasant”); its only close relatives are in Tocharian.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record of both the verb and the noun is the Splanamento of Girardo Patecchio, written in Cremona in the 13th century.[3] DELI's first dated use is in Giacomo da Lentini, who died before 1250, in the sense “to be unwelcome”.[4] GDLI quotes his lines on the painter who is displeased by his own work: e puro li dispiace / lo pingere che face (“and yet the painting he makes displeases him”).[9]

Semantic evolution

By the middle of the 13th century the verb also meant “to cause sorrow or regret”, first in Folco di Calabria (before 1266).[4] In Old Italian it was used of acts displeasing to God, and in politics of a measure that the other side disapproved of; already then a negative subjunctive served as a mild apology or request.[3] The noun, “grief, regret”, appears in Stefano Protonotaro and in Guittone d'Arezzo.[4]

Tommaseo–Bellini records older senses of the noun, “injury” in Boccaccio and “damage” in Vasari,[12] and GDLI a physical sense, “disgust” at a bad smell or taste.[9] In modern Italian the verb is above all the verb of apology and polite request: mi dispiace “I'm sorry”, ti dispiace…? “would you mind…?”, and with a negation it expresses mild approval, non mi dispiace “I quite like it”.[2][13][14] The pronominal dispiacersi means “to be sorry, to regret”.[6][13]

Timeline

  • 13th century – Girardo Patecchio uses the verb and the noun at Cremona.[3]
  • Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses dispiacere “to be unwelcome”.[4]
  • Before 1266 – Folco di Calabria uses the verb for “to cause sorrow”.[4]
  • 13th century – Stefano Protonotaro writes the noun displaciri.[4]
  • Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses the noun dispiacere “grief”.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To be unpleasant or unwelcome to someone (with a): Quel rumore dispiace a tutti.[2][6][7]
  2. With a negation, to be quite liked: Il concerto non mi è dispiaciuto.[2][6][14]
  3. To cause regret or sorrow; often impersonal, mi dispiace “I'm sorry”: Mi dispiace, stasera non posso uscire.[2][7][13]
  4. In polite requests, to mind: Ti dispiace chiudere la porta?[2][13][15]
  5. (pronominal, dispiacersi) To be sorry, to regret something.[6][7][13]

Noun

  1. sorrow, regret, disappointment: Ha lasciato la città con grande dispiacere.[2][6][7]
  2. Something that causes grief, often in the plural: I dispiaceri non gli sono mancati.[2][6]

Word family

  • dispiacente
  • dispiacevole
  • dispiacimento
  • dispiacenza
  • dispiacersi

Usage notes

Spiacere is a variant with the same meanings.[1][7] The verb takes essere as its auxiliary.[1][6]

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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  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 i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1348
  9. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  13. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli