governare

Forms

governare (first-person singular present govèrno, first-person singular past historic governài, past participle governàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian covernare, Old Italian ghovernare and Old Italian gobernare.^[2] The old past participle without ending was govèrno.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin gubernō (“to steer, to pilot”), from Ancient Greek κυβερνάω (kubernáō, “to steer a ship”), together with the Latin noun gubernum (“rudder”).^[4][5][6][1] Already in Latin, as in Greek, the verb and the noun had widened their meaning from steering a ship to directing and ruling.^[4][7] The Greek verb is of obscure origin;^[4][7][8] DEI calls it an Aegean word, and Devoto a Mediterranean word taken over by Latin and Greek independently.^[4][7][8]

The same verb is French gouverner, the source of English govern, Old Occitan goernar, Catalan governar, Spanish gobernar and Portuguese governar.^[5][9][10] DEI describes it as a word of the western Romance area.^[7] The sense “to tend animals” is found in Old French and Old Occitan, in French dialects and in northern and southern Italian dialects, and is documented in Late Latin of the 5th century; in the north of Italy the verb also means “to manure, to tend the soil”.^[7][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Uguccione da Lodi's Libro, a Cremonese text of the early 13th century.^[2] The TLIO's first sense is nautical: to steer a boat by handling the rudder or the sails.^[2] DELI's earliest dates are Dante's “to guide, lead” (before 1294) and, before that, Medieval Latin documents of 8th-century Tuscany using the verb for ruling with full powers.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the verb is used for steering a boat (Fiore di virtù), for administering with executive power (Bono Giamboni, before 1292) and, reflexively, for controlling oneself; before 1306 Iacopone uses it for providing for someone.^[4] The Fiore di virtù compares the virtue of moderation to the helmsman who steers the ship.^[3] DEI dates the care and feeding of animals from the 14th century; in the 19th century Tommaseo records steering balloons through the air.^[7][4]

The noun governo, from Latin gubernum, moved the same way, from “rudder” in Dante's Convivio to “government”, the organ of the state, in the 15th century.^[4][5] The curse piove, governo ladro! (“it's raining, thieving government!”), mocking the habit of blaming the government for everything, goes back to a cartoon by Casimiro Teja in the Pasquino of 1861, after rain spoiled a Mazzinian demonstration in Turin.^[4] The present participle governante gave a noun for a governess in 1643.^[4]

Timeline

• 8th century – Tuscan documents in Medieval Latin use the verb for ruling with full powers.^[4]
• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses governare.^[2]
• 13th century – Fiore di virtù uses it for steering a boat.^[4][3]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for administering a state.^[4]
• Before 1294 – Dante uses it for “to guide, lead”.^[4]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone uses it for “to provide for”.^[4]
• 1322 – Governatori are named in a document from Volterra.^[4]
• 15th century – Governo means the government of a state.^[4]
• 1643 – Governante means a governess.^[4]
• 1861 – A cartoon in the Pasquino starts the saying governo ladro, piove!^[4]
• 1869 – Tommaseo records governare for steering balloons.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To govern, to rule a state or a people: governare con prudenza.^[6][11][12]
2. To manage or run a company, an institution, a household.^[6][11][12]
3. Of laws and rules, to regulate.^[6][11]
4. (figurative) To keep under control: governare l'inflazione.^[6][11][13]
5. (figurative) To guide or influence: Non farti governare dalla rabbia.^[6][11][12]
6. (nautical) To steer a ship; by extension, to drive or pilot a vehicle or aircraft.^[6][11][13]
7. To look after, to feed and groom animals.^[6][14][1]
8. (agriculture) To manure soil or plants.^[6][14][13]
9. To improve wine by adding must of dried grapes; in Tuscany, to tend the stages of winemaking.^[6][14]
10. (nautical, intransitive) Of a ship, to answer the helm.^[14][13][12]
11. (reflexive, governarsi) To conduct oneself, to manage one's own affairs.^[14][13][15]

Word family

• governo
• governatore
• governante
• governativo
• governabile
• governale
• governatorato
• sottogoverno
• rigovernare

Related words

• cibernetica
• Latin gubernō
• French gouverner

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1850
8. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ a b c d e f 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 c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli