Etymologically
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gara

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Pronunciation

Forms

gara f (plural gare)[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[2][3][4] DELI calls it a word of unknown origin, but thinks worth further study the proposal that it is borrowed from Arabic غارة (ġāra, “raid, foray”), which entered Spanish with the Arabic article as Old Spanish algara (“cavalry raid”).[2] Nocentini accepts the Arabic source, and DEI, GRADIT, Devoto–Oli and GDLI give it as likely.[5][6][3][7][8] The sense would have passed from “raid” to “armed clash” and then to “contest”.[9][8] The same Arabic word is Portuguese algara, and Spanish has the derivative algarada.[10][5]

Alessio, noting that the word is not popular in the dialects of the south and Sicily, preferred Latin aurīgō (“to drive a chariot”), through a reduced form that would also explain regata.[2] DELI finds this too dependent on adjustments, and the LEI rejects it because the Latin long vowel would have been kept.[2][11] Zaccaria derived the word, through French, from Frankish *warōn (“to watch, to guard”), and doubted the Arabic source because Arabic had lent Romance words for things rather than for ideas;[12] DEI excludes the Germanic verb and Meyer-Lübke found it unlikely in sense.[6][10] Prati left the origin open.[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dino Compagni's Cronica (1310–1312), where i cittadini si cominciorono a dividere per gara d'ufici, “the citizens began to split apart through rivalry for public offices”.[2][14][8] In Old Italian the word meant rivalry or contention for some result.[14]

Semantic evolution

The Old Italian Livio volgarizzato tells of a family that seemed born a gareggiare e combattere co' tribuni e colla plebe, “to vie and fight with the tribunes and the people”.[2][8] The TLIO also records gara for an armed clash, and phrases such as a gara, pigliare gara “to come into conflict” and vincere la gara “to prevail”.[14] Ariosto's Orlando furioso begins its plot with una gara / tra il conte Orlando e il suo cugin Rinaldo, “a quarrel between Count Orlando and his cousin Rinaldo”.[8][15]

The sense “quarrel, dispute” is now obsolete.[16][17] Today the word means above all a sporting contest.[3][7][9] The administrative gara d'appalto, a competition between firms for a public contract, is recorded in Carducci in 1878.[2][3] Prati notes a regional sense “angry whim” in the dialects of Siena and the mountains of Pistoia.[13]

Timeline

  • 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses gara for “rivalry”.[2][14]
  • 14th century – Gareggiare “to vie” appears in the Livio volgarizzato.[2][5]
  • 1551 – Bernardo Segni uses gareggiamento.[2]
  • Before 1562 – Garoso “quarrelsome” is recorded.[5]
  • 1590 – Bernardino Baldi uses gareggiare for taking part in a race.[2]
  • 1878 – Carducci uses gara for a tender.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. competition, contest, race between people or teams trying to outdo each other: La gara di nuoto comincia alle dieci.[3][7][9]
  2. (by extension) Rivalry in doing something, especially something praiseworthy: In paese c'è stata una gara di generosità per la famiglia.[3][16]
  3. (administration) A tender, short for gara d'appalto: a competition in which a public contract goes to the best offer.[3][7][16]
  4. (obsolete) Dispute, quarrel.[3][16][17]

Word family

  • gareggiamento
  • gareggiare
  • garoso
  • sgarare

Usage notes

Fare a gara means to compete in doing something, often ironically, and fuori gara is said of an athlete who takes part without being ranked.[3][7][4]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  4. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  5. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1762
  7. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d e 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  11. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 2501
  12. ^ Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
  13. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 482
  14. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  16. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  17. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli