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festeggiare

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word festeggiare

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
late 13th century, Bonvesin de la Riva
Ultimate origin
Latin festum
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Italian festa
Italian festeggiare

Pronunciation

  • /fes.tedˈd͡ʒa.re/[1]

Forms

festeggiare (first-person singular present festéggio, first-person singular past historic festeggiài, past participle festeggiàto, auxiliary avére)[1] Old forms include festegiare and festigiare.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Italian festa + -eggiare, according to DELI, GRADIT and Zingarelli.[4][5][6] Wiktionary instead takes it from a Vulgar Latin *festizāre, from Latin festum (“feast, holiday”) with a verb-forming suffix.[1] Tommaseo compared Old French festoier.[7] The Latin noun is the noun use of the adjective festus (“festive”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Milanese poems of Bonvesin de la Riva, in the late 13th century.[3] DELI's earliest dates are the early 14th century for “to welcome and honour someone with festivity” (the Italian Valerius Maximus) and before 1342 for “to celebrate a feast” (Domenico Cavalca).[4]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb meant to honour with public celebrations, especially a religious feast or a deity, to rejoice in someone's honour, and to amuse oneself.[3] Cavalca writes of festeggiare il giorno del sabato, keeping the Sabbath.[7] The old intransitive sense “to amuse oneself, to make merry” is now marked as archaic or literary,[6][8] while modern usage celebrates birthdays, anniversaries and victories, or simply “celebrates” without an object.[5][9] In literary prose the sea can festeggiare with light, that is sparkle.[6]

Timeline

  • Late 13th century – Bonvesin de la Riva uses the verb.[3]
  • Early 14th century – The Italian Valerius Maximus uses it for “to welcome with festivity”.[4]
  • c. 1336 – Zingarelli's date for the verb.[6]
  • Before 1342 – Cavalca uses it for “to celebrate a feast”.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To celebrate an event with a party: Domani festeggiamo la laurea di mia sorella.[5][9][10]
  2. To welcome someone warmly, to make a fuss of: I tifosi hanno festeggiato la squadra all'aeroporto.[5][10][6]
  3. (intransitive) To celebrate, to party; to show joy: Abbiamo vinto: stasera si festeggia![5][9][1]

Word family

  • festeggiamento
  • festeggiato
  • festeggiatore

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  3. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  4. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  7. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  8. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
Cite this entry

“Festeggiare.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/festeggiare. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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