ergere

Forms

ergere (first-person singular present èrgo, first-person singular past historic èrsi, past participle èrto or (traditional) érto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old Italian forms include Venetian erçer and Sicilian irgiri.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *ergere, a shortened form of ērigō (“to raise, set upright”).^[3][4][1][5] The Latin verb is formed with ex- from regō (“to guide, direct”), in the sense “to guide in a straight line”.^[6][7] The LEI thinks the loss of the vowel already happened in Latin or Late Latin, probably through a shift of stress under the influence of the stressed first person singular, perhaps also helped by verbs such as convergō and tergō.^[8] The learned erigere is a doublet.^[1][8]

The same verb gave Old Occitan erdre or erzer, Spanish erguir and Portuguese erguer, and Old Sardinian has ergeresi “to rise”.^[8][6][5] DEI says it is lacking in Romanian and Sardinian, and that Calabrian jùrgiri is crossed with surgō.^[9] Meyer-Lübke notes that the Romance vowel /e/, against the long ē of Latin, is unexplained.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Venetian version of the Disticha Catonis, of the 13th century, in the sense “to turn, lift or place upwards”.^[2] DELI dates the verb to Dante, before 1321, and the reflexive ergersi is in Dante before 1313.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

Dante's ed el s'ergea col petto e con la fronte (“and he rose up with his chest and brow”) shows the reflexive “to draw oneself up”.^[10][11] Petrarca, between 1351 and 1374, lifts the arms, the head and the eyes with it, and turns his wishes heavenward: io voglie e pensier tutti al ciel ergo.^[8][4] From the 16th century poets use it for building altars, pyres and towers.^[12] Old senses are “to make proud” and, of a horse, “to rear”, as in Matteo Villani's un destriere adombrò ed erse.^[13][11][14]

Tommaseo already noted that the verb was used only in verse.^[13] Today it is literary, but ergersi is common for mountains and buildings that tower, and ergersi a giudice is to set oneself up as a judge.^[10][7][14]

Timeline

• 13th century – The Venetian Disticha Catonis uses the verb.^[2]
• Before 1313 – Dante uses the reflexive ergersi.^[8][6]
• 1351–74 – Petrarca uses it for lifting the arms, head or eyes.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (literary) To raise, lift up: ergere la testa.^{[4][10][7][14]}
2. (literary) To erect, build: In piazza ersero una statua al poeta.^[10][14][12]
3. (figurative, literary) To raise in spirit: ergere la mente a Dio.^[10][7][14]
4. (reflexive) To draw oneself up; of mountains or buildings, to tower, rise: Dietro il paese si erge una rupe.^[10][7][14]
5. (reflexive, figurative) To set oneself up as: ergersi a giudice.^{[10][7][14][15]}
6. (obsolete) To make proud; of a horse, to rear.^[14][11][10]

Word family

• erto
• ergersi

Related words

• erigere
• erta
• reggere
• Latin ērigō

Usage notes

The verb is irregular: io ergo, past historic ersi, past participle erto.^[10][7][14] The participle lives on as the adjective erto “steep”, and all'erta, “on the alert”, gave French alerte.^[5][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e f g Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 21, 654
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1517
10. ^ 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
11. ^ 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)
12. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana