garrire

Forms

garrire (first-person singular present garrìsco, first-person singular past historic garrìi, past participle garrìto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin garriō (“to chatter, prattle”), an expressive word not tied to any particular animal.^[2][3][4] The GDLI calls it learned.^[5] In Latin it also meant “to twitter” in Apuleius and “to croak” of frogs.^[5] Latin derived from it garrulus (“talkative”) and garrulitās (“talkativeness”).^[2]

The Latin verb lives on in Romansh gari, Spanish garrir (“to chatter”) and Portuguese garrir, and in some northern Italian dialects with a prefix ⟨s-⟩, such as Piedmontese sgarì.^[6][7] A few old dialect outcomes in Gallo-Romance depend on it too.^[2][7]

The Latin word is imitative, built on the sound sequence ⟨g-r⟩.^[3][8] Nocentini holds that the imitative pattern was already Indo-European and compares Ancient Greek γαρύω (garúō, “to sing, cry”), Old High German kerran (“to cry out”) and Welsh garm (“shout”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Brunetto Latini's Rettorica of about 1260–1261, of people shouting and chattering loudly: Gridavano e garriano a grandi boci (“they shouted and chattered in loud voices”).^[9][5] In Old Italian the verb mostly referred to people: talking too much or too loudly, scolding harshly, and quarrelling aloud.^[9][2]

Semantic evolution

The scolding sense appears before 1313 in Cecco Angiolieri and Dante, whose pur che mia coscienza non mi garra (“so long as my conscience does not reproach me”) uses it as a transitive verb.^[2][10] Petrarch applied it in 1374 to the harsh, shrill cry of birds, the sense that later became the main one, especially of swallows.^[2][9][11] He also used it for quarrelling: Con Amor, con madonna e meco garro (“I quarrel with Love, with my lady and with myself”).^[11][12]

In 1872 Giosuè Carducci used it for flags and banners flapping noisily in the wind, a sense soon imitated and recorded by Panzini's dictionary in 1908.^[2][5] The senses of chattering and scolding are now literary or archaic.^[4][13] The old present garro, garri has given way to garrisco, garrisci.^[10][12]

Timeline

• c. 1260–1261 – Brunetto Latini's Rettorica has garriano “they chattered”.^[9]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses the verb for shouting and chattering aloud.^[2][4]
• Before 1313 – Cecco Angiolieri and Dante use it for reproaching.^[2]
• Before 1342 – Garrulo is first recorded, in Domenico Cavalca.^[2]
• 1374 – Petrarch uses it for the cry of birds.^[2]
• Before 1375 – Garrito, the cry of birds, appears in Boccaccio.^[2]
• 1872 – Carducci uses it for flags flapping in the wind.^[2]
• 1908 – Panzini's dictionary records the sense of flags.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. Of birds, especially swallows, to utter a shrill, insistent cry; to chirp, twitter.^{[4][11][14][10]}
2. (literary) Of flags, sails or banners, to flap noisily in the wind: La bandiera garriva sul pennone.^{[4][11][14][10]}
3. (literary) To chatter idly; to shout harshly; to quarrel (with con).^[4][11][10]
4. (archaic, literary) To scold or reproach someone (with a, or transitively).^[4][11][13]

Word family

• garrito
• garrimento
• garritore

Related words

• Latin garriō

Usage notes

The verb is conjugated with -isc- (garrisco); the older forms garro, garri are archaic.^[11][10][15]

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 m n 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1767
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 197
9. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli