girare

Forms

girare (first-person singular present gìro, first-person singular past historic girài, past participle giràto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin gȳrō (“to turn round in a circle”), derived from gȳrus (“circle, ring, turn”), which is from Ancient Greek γῦρος (gûros, “circle, ring”).^[2][3][4][1] DEI notes that the Latin verb appears in the 5th century, in Vegetius, as a term of horsemanship, and that it replaced classical circuire.^[5] DELI calls the Greek noun's Indo-European relations unclear.^[2]

The same verb is French girer (now obsolete), Occitan girar, Catalan girar, Spanish girar and Portuguese girar;^[3][6] REW thinks the Spanish and Portuguese verbs came from Catalan.^[3][6] Italian also has giro, from the Latin noun, in the second half of the 13th century.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the reflexive “to turn about, toss”, in Cielo d'Alcamo before 1250.^[2][4] Dante uses the verb both for turning an object and for revolving, and writes of a windmill “che 'l vento gira” (that the wind turns, Inferno 34).^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th and 14th centuries the verb took most of its modern senses: to turn aside (Novellino), to go round a place, to walk about, to wheel and whirl (Petrarch).^[2] Later came “to visit every part of a place” (Annibal Caro, before 1566), “to pass something on” (1563), “to spread, circulate” (1736) and “to pass from hand to hand” (Gasparo Gozzi, 1760–1761).^[2]

In 1723 Casaregi records the banking sense, to transfer a bill by endorsement, which German borrowed as girieren.^[2][8] Film made the verb “to shoot”: Pirandello called his 1915 novel Si gira... after the cranking of the camera, and “to film a scene” followed by 1923.^[2] DELI explains girare le scatole “to annoy” as a euphemism for a coarser phrase already shortened to mi girano in 1863.^[2] The infinitive used as a noun once meant each heaven of the Ptolemaic system and a scroll of foliage in decoration.^[7][9]

Timeline

• Before 1250 – Cielo d'Alcamo uses the reflexive girarsi.^[2]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses it for turning an object and for revolving.^[2]
• Before 1566 – Annibal Caro uses it for touring a place.^[2]
• 1635 – German girieren “to endorse” is recorded.^[8]
• 1723 – Casaregi uses girare for transferring a bill of exchange.^[2]
• 1915 – Pirandello's novel Si gira... takes its title from the film camera.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To turn, rotate: Gira la chiave due volte.^[4][10][1]
2. (transitive) To stir: girare il sugo; to turn over: girare il foglio.^[4][10]
3. (transitive) To turn in a direction: girare la testa verso la porta.^[4][11]
4. (transitive) To go round, tour, visit: Ha girato tutta l'Europa in treno.^[4][12][1]
5. (transitive) To pass on, forward: Ti giro il messaggio.^[10][12]
6. (transitive, banking) To endorse a cheque or bill.^[12][11][1]
7. (transitive, cinema) To shoot, film: girare un film, si gira! “action!”.^[10][13][1]
8. (transitive, figurative) To present differently: girare il discorso, to change the subject.^[4][12]
9. (intransitive) To spin, revolve: La ruota girava sempre più veloce.^[13][1]
10. (intransitive) To turn, change direction: Dopo il ponte giri a destra.^[13]
11. (intransitive) To wander about; to circulate: Gira voce che si sposino.^[13][1]
12. (intransitive, colloquial) To feel like: quando gli gira; to go: Al lavoro le cose mi girano storte.^[13][1]
13. (intransitive, computing) Of a program, to run.^[13][1]

Word family

• giramento
• girandola
• girandolare
• girata
• giratore
• girella
• girellare
• girevole
• gironzolare
• rigirare
• rigiro

Related words

• giradischi
• giramondo
• girarrosto
• girarsi
• girasole
• giratorio
• giro

Usage notes

Girare was also an old noun, the infinitive used substantively: each heaven of the Ptolemaic system, or a decorative scroll of leaves (girari di foglie in Vasari); GRADIT marks it obsolete.^[7][9][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 d 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. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1815
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
8. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
9. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
10. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse