guadagnare

Forms

guadagnare (first-person singular present guadàgno, first-person singular past historic guadagnài, past participle guadagnàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old Italian also wrote ghuadagnare and ghuadangnare, and forms such as gadhanià and gaagna.^[2] Old Lombard had aguadegnar.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Frankish *waidanjan (“to graze; to work, gain”), a verb formed from *waida (“pasture”).^[4][5][6][7] GRADIT, DEI and Devoto give its route through Medieval Latin guadaniare, a Gallo-Romance word spread with Carolingian culture, and the TLIO also thinks it came through Gallo-Romance.^[5][8][7][2] Nocentini instead derives the Italian verb from Lombardic *waidanjan (“to get food”), and Zaccaria, Prati and Meyer-Lübke give Frankish or Lombardic.^{[9][10][11][3]} Wiktionary gives the Frankish form as *waiþanōjan (“to hunt, graze”), a calque of Latin petō (“to seek”).^[1]

The verb is compared with Old High German weidenōn (“to graze, hunt”), related to German Weide (“pasture”).^[9][4] Schiaffini, quoted by DELI, saw in the word a farming or herding world, where gain came from pasture.^[4] The same verb is French gagner, Old Occitan guadanhar, Catalan guanyar, Portuguese ganhar and Spanish guadañar, which keeps the old sense “to mow hay”.^[9][3][12] Meyer-Lübke notes that in Italy it took the place of Latin lucrāre (“to gain”).^[3] Muratori had linked it with German gewinnen, which Zaccaria rejects.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the verb to about 1274;^[5][4] DELI's first records are Bono Giamboni and the Judaeo-Italian Elegia, before 1292, for “to draw profit or payment from work or trade”.^[5][4] The TLIO's first record is earlier, the Venetian Proverbia quae dicuntur of the last quarter of the 12th century.^[2] Giamboni wrote that greed for gain should not go so far as to offend God for the sake of riches.^[13]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the verb for winning a battle, for capturing places and people, for earning a living, for gaining merit or punishment and for using time well.^[2][4] DELI dates “to reach, especially with difficulty” to about 1300 and “to win” to Mazzeo di Ricco in the 13th century.^[4] The sense “to win (at a game)” imitates French gagner, as does “to take possession of a place”, which French had developed in military use in the 16th century.^[4] The noun guadagno was taken from the verb, and in the 18th century took the sense “winnings” from French gain.^[4]

The intransitive sense “to look better, to make a better impression” is first recorded in Parabosco, before 1557.^[4][5] Old Italian also had cavallo di guadagno, a stud horse, and the phrase mandare a guadagno, to send a cow to the bull.^[11][3] Set phrases include guadagnare tempo, guadagnare terreno and the nautical guadagnare il vento.^[5][14]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – The Venetian Proverbia quae dicuntur have the first record.^[2]
• About 1274 – GRADIT dates guadagnare.^[5]
• 1274 – The phrase per prode e per guadagno is recorded.^[4]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for earning.^[4]
• About 1300 – It is used for reaching a place with difficulty.^[4]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses the noun guadagno.^[4]
• Before 1557 – Parabosco uses it intransitively, “to look better”.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To earn, to receive as pay or profit: Quanto guadagna un infermiere?^[5][6][14]
2. (transitive) To gain, to get as an advantage: Non ci guadagni niente a mentire.^[5][6][14]
3. (transitive) To win, to earn (esteem, praise, a promotion); to win (someone) over.^[5][6][14]
4. (transitive) To reach, especially with effort: Dopo tre ore guadagnammo la cima.^[5][14][1]
5. (transitive) To win (at a game, in a bet or a lottery).^[5][1]
6. (intransitive) To look better, to improve in appearance: Con gli occhiali guadagni.^[5][6]

Word family

• guadagno
• riguadagnare
• guadagnabile
• guadagnatore
• guadagnucchiare

Related words

• French gagner
• English gain

Usage notes

Guadagnarci is common in the sense “to gain from something”, and tanto di guadagnato means “so much the better”.^[6] Guadagnare tempo is “to gain time”, and guadagnare terreno “to gain ground”.^[14][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 d e f g h i j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1879
9. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
11. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 535
12. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
14. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli