durare

Forms

durare (first-person singular present dùro, first-person singular past historic durài, past participle duràto, auxiliary (intransitive) èssere or (intransitive or transitive) avére)^[1] The auxiliary is essere or, less often, avere in the intransitive senses, and avere in the transitive ones.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dūrāre (“to harden; to hold out, endure, last”).^[3][4][5][1] The same verb is French durer, Occitan durar, Catalan durar, Spanish durar, Portuguese durar, Sardinian durare and Romanian dura, and the present participle gave the preposition durante and its counterparts French durant and Spanish durante.^[4][6]

DELI, GRADIT and Zingarelli call the Latin verb of uncertain origin and say that it was wrongly linked with Latin dūrus (“hard”).^[3][5][2] DEI and Devoto keep the meaning “to make hard”, from the adjective, apart from “to last”, which they think may be related to dūdum (“for a long time”) and Ancient Greek δηρόν (dērón, “for a long time”), with the second influenced by the first.^[7][8] Nocentini sees no reason to separate them, since “hard” and “lasting” share the idea of “resistant”.^[4] De Vaan also takes the meaning of the verb to have developed from “be hard” to “endure, last”, and derives the adjective from Proto-Indo-European *duh₂-ro- (“far, long”), the source of Sanskrit दूर (dūrá, “far, distant”) and δηρός (dērós, “long”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Cremonese Libro of Uguccione da Lodi, from the early 13th century.^[10] DELI's earliest dated sense is transitive, “to bear, endure”, in Bonagiunta Orbicciani before 1257, then intransitive “to keep, hold out” in Guido delle Colonne before 1290.^[3] Guido writes that between water and fire set in a vessel l'uno e l'autra dura, “each one lasts”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb already meant to go on in time, to stay alive, to keep (of food), to remain of a quantity, and to persevere in an action; transitively it meant to withstand or suffer something, as in the phrase durar fatica and the proverb chi la dura la vince, “he who holds out wins”.^[10] It could also mean to extend in space, and in a few texts to make or become harder.^[10] Dante speaks of Virgil's fame that ancor nel mondo dura, “still lasts in the world”.^[11]

Guittone d'Arezzo has the senses “to go on at length” and “to persist, insist” before 1294.^[3] The present participle durante hardened into a preposition, “during”, first recorded before 1348 in Francesco da Barberino, and the phrase vita natural durante, “for the whole of one's life”, was formed later.^[3]

In modern Italian the main senses are “to last, go on”, “to keep in good condition”, “to stay in a post” and “to be enough”; the transitive “to bear” is literary.^[5][12][2] Tuscan proverbs collected by Tommaseo include ogni bel gioco dura poco, “every good game is short”.^[13]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi has the first record.^[10]
• Before 1257 – Bonagiunta uses durare transitively, “to bear”.^[3]
• Before 1290 – Guido delle Colonne uses it for “to keep, hold out”.^[3]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni has the derivatives durata and duraturo.^[3]
• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses it for “to go on at length” and “to persevere”.^[3]
• Before 1348 – Durante is recorded as a preposition.^[3]
• 1826 – Vita natural durante is first recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To last, to keep in time without changing: Questi stivali durano anni.^[5][12][14]
2. (intransitive) To remain in a post or position: Il nuovo allenatore è durato tre mesi.^[5][12]
3. (intransitive) To be enough, to suffice: L'acqua durerà fino a domani.^[5][12]
4. (intransitive) To go on, continue for a time: La riunione è durata due ore. Impersonally, così non può durare, this cannot go on.^[5][14][15]
5. (intransitive) To stay alive: Il vecchio cane non durerà molto.^[5][12]
6. (intransitive, literary) To persevere, insist in something: durare nel proprio impegno.^[5][2][14]
7. (transitive, literary) To endure, bear, durare fatica, to have difficulty, to toil.^[5][2][15]

Word family

• durante
• durata
• duraturo
• durevole
• durevolezza
• durativo
• durabile
• perdurare

Related words

• durazione
• duro
• indurare
• indurire
• Latin dūrus

Usage notes

Set phrases include durare fatica (to toil, to have difficulty), durare da Natale a Santo Stefano (to last a single day, since the two feasts fall on consecutive days) and the proverb chi la dura la vince, “perseverance wins”.^[12][16][2] Durarla means to hold out.^[2][16]

DEI lists a separate obsolete verb durare “to harden”, a learned word from the Latin verb in that sense, recorded in the 14th century.^[17][13] Tommaseo quotes it from a treatise on horses, where straw given as fodder is said to harden the animal's belly.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1403
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 155
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
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 Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1404