dovere

Forms

dovere (first-person singular present dèvo or dévo or dèbbo or débbo, first-person singular past historic dovétti or (traditional) dovètti or dovéi, past participle dovùto, first-person singular future dovrò, no imperative, auxiliary avére or (as an auxiliary, with main verbs taking essere) èssere)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dēbeō (“to owe; to be under an obligation”),^[2][3][4][1] contracted from an older “*dē-habeō”, a compound of dē- (“away from”) and habeō (“to have, hold”), the source of avere.^[5][2][3] The compound meant “to hold something one has received from someone else”, and so “to be bound to give it back”.^[2][3][6] Plautus once has the uncontracted perfect “dēhibuistī”,^[5] and the verb is attested from Plautus onwards.^[7] The Latin noun dēbitum, from the same verb, gave debito.^[3]

The first vowel of “dovere” was ⟨e⟩: unstressed /e/ became /o/ before the labial consonant, as in domandare and domani.^[2][3][8] Forms that keep the ⟨e⟩, such as “devere”, are recorded too.^[7][9] Tommaseo compared the Latin inscription spelling “devitum” for “debitum”, with /b/ turned into /v/.^[10]

The verb is French devoir, Occitan dever, Catalan deure, Spanish deber and Portuguese dever,^[3][11] and Sardinian devere and Romansh dovair.^[11] Romanian and the dialects of southern Italy lack it: there a phrase of Latin inde (“from there”) and habeō took its place.^[12] In Late Latin the verb, like Ancient Greek μέλλω (méllō) in Greek, served to form a periphrastic future, which survives in Sardinian.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is from 1211, in a Florentine text, with the sense “to be obliged to”.^[2][4][3] Before 1250 Giacomo da Lentini used it of what is probable, and before 1292 Bono Giamboni of what one needs to do.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The Latin sense “to owe” remained: the LEI records dovere “to owe money” from Dante, around 1319,^[13] while DELI dates the sense “to be a debtor” only from Giovanni Della Casa, before 1556.^[2] As a modal verb dovere came to cover obligation, necessity, advisability (in the conditional, dovresti), intention (“to be due to”) and probability (deve essere tardi, “it must be late”).^[4][6][14]

The infinitive used as a noun, il dovere “duty”, is first found in Dante.^[2][4] The LEI counts it among the most firmly established noun infinitives of Italian, supported by the parallel of piacere.^[7] French devoir influenced some of its senses and phrases,^[15] and the sense “school homework”, from the north and, from the 19th century, copies the French word.^[12] The plural doveri “respects, compliments” is recorded in 1855.^[9] Dante writes in the Purgatorio: ch'io solva il mio dover anzi ch'io mova (“that I fulfil my duty before I move on”).^[15]

Derivatives followed: dovuto “owed, due” from 1354 (Passavanti), il dovuto “what is due” from before 1388 (Antonio Pucci), and doveroso “dutiful, proper” from the 15th century.^[2]

Timeline

• 1211 – First record of dovere “to be obliged”.^[2][4]
• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses it for probability.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for necessity.^[2]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses the noun dovere “duty”.^[4][2]
• About 1319 – Dovere “to owe money” in Dante.^[13]
• 1354 – Dovuto “due” in Iacopo Passavanti.^[2]
• Before 1388 – Il dovuto “what is owed” in Antonio Pucci.^[2]
• 15th century – Doveroso in Alessandro Braccio.^[2]
• 1855 – Doveri “compliments, respects” is recorded.^[9]
• 19th century – The northern sense “homework”, after French devoir.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (modal) To have to, be obliged to do something, by a rule, by one's conscience or by circumstances: domani devo alzarmi alle sei.^[4][6][14]
2. (modal) To need to, out of physical need: dopo la corsa devo bere qualcosa.^[4][14]
3. (modal, in the conditional) Of what is advisable: dovresti telefonarle.^[4][6]
4. (modal) To be due to, to have planned to: il treno deve arrivare alle otto.^[4][6]
5. (modal) Of probability: must: devono essere già partiti.^[4][14]
6. (transitive) To owe: ti devo venti euro.^[1][13]
7. (transitive) To owe, be indebted for: deve la sua carriera al maestro.^[13]

Noun

1. duty, an obligation imposed by morality or law: il senso del dovere.^[4][6][14]
2. Dovere!: a polite reply turning down thanks, “it was my duty”.^[4][1]
3. What is right and proper; in a dovere, “properly, as it should be”.^[4][6]
4. (dated, in the plural) Respects, greetings: i miei doveri alla signora.^[4][14]

Word family

• doveroso
• dovuto

Related words

• avere
• debito
• Latin debeo
• French devoir

Usage notes

The present has both devo and debbo.^[16][6] Used as a modal, dovere tends to take the auxiliary of the verb it accompanies (sono dovuto partire), though avere is also common (ho dovuto partire), especially to stress the obligation.^[16] Common phrases are come si deve “properly” and chi di dovere “the person responsible”.^[4][6]

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 n o p 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 e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ 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
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 Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 391
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1388
13. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
14. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
16. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli