elevare

Forms

elevare (first-person singular present elèvo or (elevated style) èlevo, first-person singular past historic elevài, past participle elevàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin ēlevō (“to lift up”), formed with ē- (“out”) on levō (“to lift, raise”).^[2][3][4][5] The inherited form of the base verb is levare.^[3][4] The same Latin verb gave the learned French élever and Spanish elevar.^[3]

The base verb is derived from levis (“light”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *h₁legʷʰ-u- (“light”), the root of Ancient Greek ἐλαχύς (elakhús, “small”) and Lithuanian leñgvas (“light”).^[6] The derivatives elevatore and elevazione are from Late Latin elevātor and elevātiō, and the first, as a “lifting machine”, is a calque on the English word elevator.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Questioni filosofiche from south-eastern Tuscany, after 1298, in the physical sense of moving something upward.^[7] DELI's first dated sense, “to lift up”, is from a 14th-century Bible translation, which tells the reader to raise his hands in the holy places by night.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

Already in Old Italian the verb had moral and social senses: bringing the soul nearer to God, raising someone's esteem or condition, and appointing to an office.^[7] Boccaccio has “promote to a dignity” before 1375, and the participle elevato meant “noble” before 1364.^[2]

Mathematics added elevare a power with Maria Gaetana Agnesi in 1748, and elevazione as the operation followed in 1869.^[2] The noun elevazione also named the raising of the host and chalice at Mass from 1572, the elevation of a gun barrel with Galileo, and an athlete's spring from 1965.^[2] In bureaucratic Italian one eleva a fine or a protest, that is, serves it formally.^[4][9][10]

Timeline

• After 1298 – The Questioni filosofiche use elevare.^[7]
• 1300s – A Bible translation uses elevare and elevazione.^[2]
• Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses it for promotion to a dignity.^[2]
• 1630–1631 – Galileo uses elevazione of the angle of a gun.^[2]
• 1748 – Maria Gaetana Agnesi uses elevare of raising a number to a power.^[2]
• 1892 – Elevatore is recorded for a lifting machine.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To raise, make higher; to build up: Hanno elevato la villa di un piano.^[4][11][9]
2. To lift or turn upward, also figuratively: Elevò gli occhi verso la cupola.^[4][10]
3. (figurative) To improve economically, socially or morally; to ennoble: La lettura eleva lo spirito.^[4][5][11]
4. To promote to an office or dignity: È stato elevato al rango di ambasciatore. The phrase elevare a sistema means to make a practice habitual.^[4][9][10]
5. (mathematics) To raise a number to a power: elevare al quadrato.^[4][9]
6. (bureaucratic) To serve formally, impose: elevare una contravvenzione.^[4][9][11]
7. (reflexive) elevarsi: to rise, tower; to improve oneself: Il campanile si eleva sopra i tetti.^[9][10]

Word family

• elevato
• elevamento
• elevatezza
• elevatore
• elevazione
• sopraelevare
• sopraelevamento
• sopraelevata
• sopraelevazione

Related words

• levare
• sollevare
• rilevare
• Latin ēlevō

Usage notes

The present is stressed elèvo; the Latin-style stress èlevo is also recorded, but rare.^[5][9][11]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
8. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse