esporre

Forms

esporre (first-person singular present espóngo, first-person singular past historic espósi, past participle espósto or espòsto, first-person singular imperfect esponévo, auxiliary avére)^[1] The form Old Italian esponere is closer to Latin, which Devoto–Oli and Gabrielli still record as archaic.^[2][3][4] An older form without the initial vowel is sporre.^[5][1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin expōnere (“to put out; to set forth, explain”), a learned word whose ending was refashioned on the native verb porre.^[6][1][5][7] The Latin verb is formed ex- (“out”) and pōnō (“to put, place”).^[6][8][9] Its past participle expositus and the derived nouns expositiō and expositor are the source of esposto, esposizione and espositore.^[6][8]

The verb survives in all the Romance languages: Old French espondre, Occitan esponer, Spanish exponer, Portuguese expor, Sardinian ispònnere and Romanian spune (“to say, tell”).^[8][10] Battisti and Alessio note that it is little recorded in the Italian dialects.^[11] Körting describes it as a half-learned word used above all in the sense “to set out, explain”.^[12]

De Vaan explains the Latin verb for “to put” as an old compound of ⟨po-⟩ with sinō (“to let, allow”), meaning “to put down”.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the poems of Bonagiunta Orbicciani of Lucca, from the middle of the 13th century, and the oldest sense in its article is to report or explain something clearly and in order.^[2] DELI dates the sense “to relate” to the 13th century, in Malispini's chronicle.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb was much used for explaining a text, a word or a symbol by gloss and commentary, and for interpreting a dream or an oracle.^[2] It could also mean to put something down, to set a person ashore from a ship, to unseat a rider and to depose someone from office.^[2] The sense “to put out, put on show” appears in the 14th-century translation of Livy, and “to put oneself rashly at the mercy of something” in Domenico Cavalca, before 1342.^[6]

Leon Battista Alberti uses it for “to risk” in 1437–1438, and Ariosto for “to abandon” in 1516.^[6] The abandonment of a newborn child in a public place, to be raised by charity, was long a special sense; the modern dictionaries mark it as rare or obsolete.^[3][14][5] The photographic sense, to submit a film to light, is recorded from 1956.^[6]

The derivatives show the same range: esposizione meant the exposition of a theory or text in Dante (1304–1308) and a public exhibition from the 18th century.^[6] esponente was a mathematical term in Galileo, and its sense “leading representative” (1917, Antonio Gramsci) is probably modelled on the English word exponent.^[6] The noun esposto, a written complaint to an authority, goes back to Bernardo Davanzati (before 1606).^[6][8]

Timeline

• Mid-13th century – Bonagiunta Orbicciani of Lucca uses the verb.^[2]
• 13th century – Malispini's chronicle has the sense “to relate”.^[6]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses esposizione for the exposition of a doctrine.^[6]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses the reflexive for exposing oneself rashly.^[6]
• 14th century – The translation of Livy has the sense “to put on show”.^[6]
• 1437–1438 – Leon Battista Alberti uses it for “to risk”.^[6]
• 1516 – Ariosto uses it for “to abandon”.^[6]
• Before 1642 – Galileo uses esponente in mathematics.^[6]
• 1942 – Esposimetro, the exposure meter, is recorded.^[6][8]
• 1956 – The photographic sense is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To relate or explain clearly and in order: esporre i fatti al giudice.^[15][3][9]
2. To comment on or interpret a text.^[15][3][5]
3. To put on show, display; to put up a flag or a notice;^[15][14][4] (Catholicism) to expose the Blessed Sacrament for adoration.^[15][14][4]
4. To exhibit works of art; used without an object, to hold or take part in an exhibition: quel pittore espone a Roma.^[15][3][14]
5. To put outside, in the air or the sun: esporre le lenzuola al sole.^[15][3]
6. To face a direction: una casa esposta a nord.^[4][6]
7. To put someone into a dangerous or difficult situation; to risk: esporre la propria vita.^[15][3][16]
8. (dated) To abandon a newborn child in a public place, to be taken in by charity.^[15][3][5]
9. (physics, photography) To subject to radiation or to light: esporre una pellicola.^[15][14][16]
10. (reflexive, esporsi) To lay oneself open to something: esporsi alle critiche; used alone, to compromise oneself.^[14][16][9]

Word family

• esposizione
• esposto
• espositore
• espositivo
• esponente
• esponenziale
• esposimetro
• sottoesporre
• sovraesporre
• riesporre

Related words

• porre
• Latin expōnō

Usage notes

Esporre is conjugated like porre: espongo, esposi, esposto.^[3][9][1] The past participle is pronounced with either a closed or an open o.^[1] Fixed phrases include esporre alla berlina (to hold up to ridicule) and esporre il fianco (to lay oneself open to attack).^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
5. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1544
12. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ 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
16. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana