fidare

Forms

fidare (first-person singular present fìdo, first-person singular past historic fidài, past participle fidàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old Italian also had fedare.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *fīdāre (“to trust”), a first-conjugation remodelling of Latin fīdere (“to trust”).^[3][1][4][5] Devoto–Oli, Gabrielli, Treccani and Devoto explain the Vulgar Latin verb rather as formed on the adjective fīdus (“faithful”), the source of fido.^[6][7][8][9] DEI compares the noun fīdāmen in Tertullian.^[5]

The verb is panromance except in Romanian: French fier, Old Occitan fizar, Catalan fiar, Spanish fiar, Portuguese fiar and Engadine fider.^[3][10][5] Derivatives such as fidanza and fidanzare have counterparts in French fiance and French fiancer, and sfidare in French défier and Spanish desafiar.^[10]

The Latin verb, the adjective fīdus and the noun fidēs (“trust”) (the source of fede) go back to the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰeydʰ- (“to trust”).^[11][3] The root is also found in Ancient Greek πείθομαι (peíthomai, “to be persuaded, obey”).^[11][3] Nocentini and de Vaan also compare Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (bidjan, “to pray, ask”) or 𐌱𐌴𐌹𐌳𐌰𐌽 (beidan, “to wait”) respectively.^[11][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini and Devoto–Oli date the verb to the 12th century.^[3][6] Zingarelli has it before 1257 and GRADIT about 1274.^[12][4] DELI's first record of the reflexive fidarsi “to have faith, trust” is in Brunetto Latini (before 1294), and of the transitive fidare “to entrust” in Boccaccio, about 1336.^[13] Sabatini–Coletti dates the pronominal use to the 13th century.^[14]

Semantic evolution

From “entrust” the transitive verb developed commercial senses: to give goods or money on credit, and, rarely, to let a pasture for grazing; a fida (1492) was a grazing lease.^[4][12][3] An archaic sense was “to guarantee safe conduct”.^[4][6] Cellini asks the Pope how he can entrust jewels of such value to a young man who is all fire.^[2]

In modern Italian the transitive verb is uncommon or literary, replaced by affidare; the intransitive fidare in “to trust in” survives (fidare in Dio), and the everyday form is the pronominal fidarsi di “to trust”.^[4][6][8] Colloquially, non mi fido a means “I don't dare to”.^[6][14]

Timeline

• 12th century – Fidare is first recorded.^[3][6]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses fidarsi “to trust”.^[13]
• About 1336 – Boccaccio uses fidare “to entrust”.^[13]
• 1492 – Fida “grazing lease” is recorded.^[3]
• 1781 – Fido “credit” is recorded.^[3]
• 1836 – Fidente “trusting” is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, uncommon or literary) To entrust something or someone to another's care: Le fidò le chiavi di casa prima di partire.^[4][6][12]
2. (transitive, commerce) To give on credit: Il fornitore gli ha fidato una partita di vino.^[4][6][12]
3. (transitive, rare) To let land for grazing.^[4][12][7]
4. (intransitive) To have faith, trust (+ in): fidare nella propria buona stella.^[4][6][8]
5. (pronominal: fidarsi) To trust, rely on (+ di): Puoi fidarti di lei, è una persona seria.^[6][14][12]
6. (pronominal, colloquial) To dare, feel able to do something (+ a or di and infinitive): Non mi fido a guidare con questa nebbia.^[6][14][8]

Word family

• fidato
• fidarsi
• affidare
• confidare
• diffidare
• fidanza
• fidente
• fida
• fidatezza
• rifidare

Related words

• fidanzare
• fede
• fido
• fiducia
• Latin fīdō

Usage notes

The proverb fidarsi è bene, non fidarsi è meglio “to trust is good, not to trust is better” advises caution.^[6][12][8] The past participle fidato is used as an adjective, “trusty, reliable”.^[3][8]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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 e f g h i j k l 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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1634
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
8. ^ a b c d e f Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse