disturbare

Forms

disturbare (first-person singular present distùrbo, first-person singular past historic disturbài, past participle disturbàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Earlier forms include Old Italian desturbare, Old Italian distorbare and the northern Old Italian destorbar.^[2] The verb is Piedmontese destorbèr in Piedmont, and Old Genoese had a verb meaning “to throw into confusion” of the same origin.^[3]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin disturbō (“to throw into disorder, upset”).^[4][5][6][1] The Latin verb is formed from turbō (“to disturb, confuse”) with the prefix dis-, which adds the idea of scattering.^[4][5][7] Prati also classes it as a learned import.^[8] DEI places the popular outcome in northern Italy and compares Old French destorber, Old Occitan destorbar and Old Portuguese destorvar;^[3] Meyer-Lübke adds Catalan destorbar and, with a different prefix, Spanish estorbar and estorvar.^[9] The shortened sturbare belongs to the same Latin verb.^[3][8]

The Latin simple verb comes from Latin turba (“turmoil; crowd”), which is probably a loan of Ancient Greek τύρβη (túrbē, “disorder, tumult”).^[1][10] De Vaan finds the native explanations of the noun formally doubtful.^[10] The noun disturbo is a back-formation from the verb, made without a suffix.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a poem by the Emperor Frederick II, in Tuscan copy, before 1250, with the sense of troubling someone and getting in the way of what they are doing.^[4][2][6]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb for hindering a person in an action or state of mind, for making something hard to carry out or preventing it altogether, and also, more concretely, for moving a thing out of its place or throwing it into disorder.^[2] Boccaccio asks that every accident “able to disturb” (possibile a disturbare) the promised return of Panfilo be removed, and Pietro de' Crescenzi's translation says that the bitterness of barren soil hinders the nourishment of seeds.^[11][12]

The reflexive disturbarsi, “to put oneself out, take the trouble”, is first recorded by Tommaseo–Bellini in 1869, and is today mostly used in polite formulas.^[4][13][14] Tommaseo also notes non si disturbi, said ironically to someone whose visit is not wanted.^[12] The noun disturbo gained a medical sense, a disorder of the body or of one of its organs, in 1623; the verb is also applied to interference in radio and telephone reception.^[4][6][1]

Timeline

• Before 1250 – Frederick II uses disturbare in a poem.^[4][2]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses the noun disturbo, “annoyance, trouble”.^[4]
• Before 1472 – Disturbatore “one who disturbs” is recorded in Leon Battista Alberti.^[4]
• 1623 – Disturbo is first used of a disorder of the body.^[4]
• 1869 – The reflexive disturbarsi “to take the trouble” is recorded by Tommaseo–Bellini.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To disturb, bother or annoy someone: Ti disturba se apro la finestra?^[6][13][14]
2. To interrupt or distract someone from what they are doing, disturbo? is a polite formula used on entering a room or approaching people who are busy.^[6][15][16]
3. To make someone feel physically unwell, or to bother a part of the body: Il treno mi disturba sempre lo stomaco.^[6][15][13]
4. To disrupt or prevent the normal course of something: Alcuni ragazzi hanno disturbato la conferenza.^[6][15][13]
5. (literary) To upset or throw into turmoil a state or condition.^[6][14][17]
6. (telecommunications) To cause interference in the reception of a signal.^[6][15][16]
7. (reflexive, disturbarsi) To put oneself out, take the trouble, especially in polite phrases: Grazie, ma non dovevate disturbarvi!^[13][14][16]

Word family

• disturbo
• disturbatore
• disturbato
• disturbarsi
• disturbamento
• disturbante

Related words

• sturbare
• turbare
• Latin turbō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1360
4. ^ 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
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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 384
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 4, 828
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ 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
16. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli