divertire

Forms

divertire (first-person singular present divèrto, first-person singular past historic divertìi, past participle divertìto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dīvertere (“to turn aside, go another way”), from vertō (“to turn”) with the prefix dis-, and it moved from the conjugation in ⟨-ere⟩ to that in ⟨-ire⟩; the older form divertere survived in literary use.^[2][3][4][1] DEI and Devoto think the word came through French divertir, and Gabrielli derives it from French.^[5][6][7] The LEI files it under the classical form Latin dēvertere, which also lives on in French.^[8]

The sense “to amuse” grew out of “to turn away (from worries)”.^[2][3] The same shift happened in Catalan divertir, Spanish divertir and Portuguese divertir, and in French from 1608.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the 14th-century Italian version of Livy, with the sense “to turn away, divert”.^[2] The form divertere is in the Anonimo Genovese in 1311.^[10]

Semantic evolution

From the late 15th century the verb belonged to war and engineering: Bibbiena in 1494 and Guicciardini before 1540 used it for drawing the enemy's forces away from the real target, and Nardi before 1563 for diverting a river.^[8] Tommaseo quotes Vasari on diverting part of the waters of the Brenta.^[11] Divertimento meant “a turning away” in Bembo in 1525, a sense not used after the 17th century.^[2]

The modern sense, “to cheer someone up by giving them something pleasant to do”, is in Lorenzo Magalotti in 1708–1709, and the reflexive divertirsi “to spend one's time pleasantly” in Goldoni in 1763.^[2] Divertimento “pastime” is in Segneri in 1679, and divertente “amusing” in Alfieri before 1803.^[2] In 1929 Moravia's Gli indifferenti has divertirsi for taking up a love affair without commitment.^[2]

Timeline

• 1311 – The form divertere is in the Anonimo Genovese.^[10]
• 14th century – The Italian version of Livy uses divertire “to turn away”.^[2]
• 1494 – Bibbiena uses it for thwarting the enemy's plan.^[8]
• 1525 – Bembo uses divertimento “turning away”.^[2]
• 1679 – Segneri uses divertimento “pastime”.^[2]
• 1708–1709 – Magalotti uses divertire “to amuse”.^[2]
• 1763 – Goldoni uses divertirsi “to enjoy oneself”.^[2]
• Before 1803 – Alfieri uses divertente.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To amuse, to entertain, to take someone's mind off cares and cheer them: Il prestigiatore ha divertito i bambini per un'ora.^{[4][12][13][1]}
2. (literary) To turn away, to divert: divertire lo sguardo.^{[4][12][14][1]}
3. (military) To draw the enemy's forces away from the point of the real attack.^[4][12]
4. (reflexive, divertirsi) To enjoy oneself, to have fun: Alla festa di Luca ci siamo divertiti moltissimo.^[12][13][14]
5. (reflexive, divertirsi a) To take pleasure in doing something: Si diverte a nascondere le chiavi al fratello.^[13][14][15]
6. (reflexive, divertirsi con) To have a love affair without commitment.^[12][13][15]

Word family

• divertente
• divertimento
• divertito
• divertevole

Related words

• diverso
• divergere
• Latin dīvertō
• French divertir

Usage notes

In the literary sense “to turn away” the present tense may be divertisco instead of diverto.^[14][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1366
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
8. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 20, 81
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b c d 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 Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana