godere

Forms

godere (first-person singular present gòdo, first-person singular past historic godétti or (traditional) godètti or godéi, past participle godùto, first-person singular future godrò, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old and Latinate forms include Old Italian gaudere, Old Italian gauldere and Old Italian galdere.^[2][3][4] Popular Tuscan stresses the stem, gòdere, a change of conjugation or a form rebuilt on gòde, gòdono, with parallels in the northern dialects.^[3][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin gaudeō (“to be glad, rejoice”).^[6][7][8][1] DELI notes that its derivatives were formed in Italian.^[6]

The Latin verb lives on in French jouir, Occitan gauzir, Catalan galdir and Portuguese gouvir, but not in Spanish or in southern Italy, where Sicilian godiri is a loan.^[7][3] The French verb was borrowed as gioire, a doublet of the inherited verb.^[7][1][9]

DELI calls gaudeō Indo-European, with a match in Greek, though its formation still needs study.^[6] The closest comparison is the Doric γαθέω (gāthéō, “to rejoice”), beside Attic γηθέω (gēthéō).^[7][3][2] De Vaan reconstructs either Proto-Indo-European *ǵeh₂u-edʰ- (“to rejoice”) or *ǵeh₂u-i-dʰh₁-o- (“rejoicing”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the poem of Re Giovanni, a Tuscan text of the first half of the 13th century, before 1237, where the verb means ‘to rejoice, take delight’.^{[11][6][7][8]}

Semantic evolution

The senses multiplied in the 13th century: ‘to feel pleasure through the senses’ in a Florentine chronicle of 1281, ‘to relish’ in Monte Andrea, and the transitive ‘to use for one's own pleasure and profit’ in B. Giamboni before 1292.^[6] The TLIO also records ‘to be in good health’, ‘to have the lawful use of a property or right’, ‘to feast’, ‘to have a love affair’ and the bliss of the saints in heaven.^[11] In canto 33 of the Paradiso Dante writes mi sento ch’i’ godo (“I feel that I rejoice”).^[12]

In the old literary language the verb could take essere in compound tenses, echoing the Latin perfect gāvīsus est.^[13][8] The legal sense of enjoying a right appears in godimento in 1630, and the noun took the sense of the date from which interest runs in 1908.^[6] goduria (1942), a jocular word for enjoyment modelled on lussuria, was spread by Ettore Petrolini.^[6][7] Today the verb also has the colloquial sense ‘to reach orgasm’.^[8][4][14] It was borrowed into Sardinian as godire.^[1]

Timeline

• Before 1237 – Re Giovanni uses godere for ‘to rejoice’.^[6][11]
• 1281 – A Florentine chronicle uses it for sensual pleasure.^[6]
• 13th century – Monte Andrea uses it for ‘to relish’, and godimento.^[6]
• Before 1292 – B. Giamboni uses the transitive ‘to use for one's pleasure and profit’.^[6]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for deep happiness.^[6]
• Before 1580 – Godereccio ‘pleasurable’ in V. Borghini.^[6]
• 1630 – Godimento in its legal sense in A. C. Davila.^[6]
• Before 1673 – Godibile ‘enjoyable’ in O. Rucellai.^[6]
• 1942 – Goduria is recorded.^[6][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be deeply glad, to rejoice (with di, in, a or che): Godo davvero del tuo successo.^[8][4][13]
2. To take pleasure in doing something: Gode a fare tardi la sera.^[8][4][15]
3. To live for pleasure and amusement; to make merry.^[8][13][15]
4. (colloquial) To reach orgasm.^[8][4][14]
5. To enjoy, to benefit from (with di): to enjoy good health, a right, an income; of a place, to have a view or an exposure.^[8][4][16]
6. (transitive) To enjoy, to savour or possess something to one's advantage.^[16][15][13]
7. (godersi) To enjoy something fully;^[16][13][15] (godersela) to have a good time.^[16][13][15]

Word family

• godimento
• godereccio
• godibile
• goduria
• goditore
• godevole
• rigodere
• stragodere

Related words

• gioire
• gaudio
• gaudente
• Latin gaudeō
• French jouir

Usage notes

Proverbs: chi si contenta gode (“he who is content enjoys”) and tra i due litiganti il terzo gode (“when two quarrel, the third profits”).^[14][4] The future is godrò, less commonly goderò.^[4][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1838
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 514
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse