gravare

Forms

gravare (first-person singular present gràvo, first-person singular past historic gravài, past participle gravàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin gravāre (“to weigh down, oppress”), a verb formed from gravis (“heavy”).^[2][3][4][5] DELI and Nocentini name only the Latin verb, and Wiktionary treats it as inherited.^[6][7][1]

The same Latin verb is Occitan gravar, Catalan gravar, Spanish gravar and Portuguese gravar.^[8][9] A form of the adjective remade after levis (“light”), Vulgar Latin *grevis, gave greve and Old French grever.^[8][9]

The adjective goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʷréh₂us (“heavy”), through Proto-Italic *gʷraus, and is related to Ancient Greek βαρύς (barús, “heavy”).^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI dates the first records to the late 13th century, in the Novellino and the Fiore, with the sense “load with a weight, oppress”, mostly figurative.^[6] The Novellino speaks of a man who seems to be fought by people or gravato da pesi, “weighed down by loads”.^[4] Nocentini and GRADIT give the second half of the 13th century, Zingarelli about 1250.^[7][11][3]

Semantic evolution

Early in the 14th century the verb took on the sense “burden with taxes” (Dino Compagni, 1310–1312), and the intransitive sense “press heavily” (Giordano da Pisa, before 1311).^[6] Dante writes of Saint Francis that cowardice of heart did not weigh his eyelids down: Né li gravò viltà di cuor le ciglia.^[12][13] The literary sense “be irksome, displease” is in Boccaccio (a cui la dimora lunga gravava, “to whom the long stay was a burden”) and in Leopardi.^[12][14]

In older legal use the verb meant “seize the goods of an insolvent debtor”, a sense now obsolete.^[3][12][11] In legal language the reflexive gravarsi is to appeal against a judgment held to be unjust.^[12] For some of the transitive senses aggravare is now more common.^[12] DEI dates gravanza and gravabile to the 13th century and gravamento to the 14th.^[15]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – The Novellino and the Fiore have the first records, “load with a weight, oppress”.^[6]
• 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses it for burdening with taxes.^[6]
• Before 1311 – Giordano da Pisa uses it intransitively, “press heavily”.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To load with a weight, burden.^{[11][14][3][1]}
2. (transitive, figurative) To oppress or weigh down with duties, worries or responsibilities.^[11][14][12]
3. (transitive) To burden with taxes or charges; to encumber property, as with a mortgage.^[11][12][3]
4. (transitive, obsolete) To distrain on the goods of an insolvent debtor.^[11][3][12]
5. (intransitive) To press with its whole weight on something: tutta la volta grava sulle colonne.^[11][14][12]
6. (intransitive, figurative) To weigh on someone, as a responsibility, a debt or a mortgage does.^[11][16][3]
7. (intransitive, literary) To be irksome, to displease.^[11][12][3]
8. (reflexive) gravarsi: to take a burden on oneself, also figuratively.^[12][3][17]

Word family

• gravame
• sgravare
• disgravare
• gravabile
• gravamento
• gravanza
• gravativo
• rigravare

Related words

• grave
• greve
• aggravare
• Latin gravis

Usage notes

Gravare la mano (su qualcuno) means to punish someone too harshly.^[14][12][17] Zingarelli gives the intransitive verb the auxiliary essere, Treccani avere.^[3][18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b 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 d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ 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
15. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1865
16. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
18. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana