Etymologically
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guardare

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Pronunciation

  • /ɡwarˈda.re/[1]

Forms

guardare (first-person singular present guàrdo, first-person singular past historic guardài, past participle guardàto, auxiliary avére)[1]

Etymology

It is a Germanic loan: borrowed from Frankish *wardōn (“to be on guard, watch”),[2][3][4][5][6] which came into Italian through the Latinized form guardāre, recorded from the 7th century.[2][6][7] DELI and Nocentini call the source simply Germanic.[8][9] The related verbs are Old High German wartēn, whence German warten (“to wait”), and Old English weardian (“to guard”), whence English ward.[9][2]

The verb spread to all the Romance languages except Romanian: French garder (“to keep”), Occitan guardar, Catalan guardar, Spanish guardar and Portuguese guardar.[9][10][6] DEI considers Friulian vardâ and the Engadine form direct continuants, and Sardinian bardare a loan from Italian.[6] Within Italy, DELI notes, the native verb was largely limited to the centre and north.[8] The noun guardia has a separate source, the Gothic word for a sentinel.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Bonagiunta Orbicciani, before about 1257, in the sense “to turn one's eyes to see”.[8] GRADIT dates the verb to before 1250, and Devoto–Oli to the first half of the 13th century.[2][3] An early use is in Giacomo da Lentini's lines on the basilisk, whose look kills: “Guardando basilisco venenoso”.[11]

Semantic evolution

The 13th century already had most of the modern senses: “to examine closely” (Giamboni, before 1292), “to guard, protect” (Iacopo Mostacci, 13th century; a Florentine text of 1297), “to keep watch”, and of buildings and windows “to face” (Giamboni, and the sea charts, where it is a key word).[8] Brunetto Latini uses guardarsi for “to abstain”, before 1294, and Barberino the intransitive guardare “to take care” in 1314.[8] Tommaseo distinguished it from vedere: one can see a thing without looking at it, and look without seeing.[12]

The Venetian and Sicilian imperative varda! “watch out!” passed into Turkish and Arabic.[6] Many compounds name guards and keepers: guardaroba (13th century), guardacoste (1703), guardalinee (1921) and guardaparco (1970); guardasigilli translates French garde des sceaux, and guardavia is a calque of English guardrail.[8] Guardone “voyeur” is recorded in 1964, and traguardo “finish line” in 1922.[9]

Timeline

  • 7th century – Medieval Latin guardare is recorded.[2][6]
  • Before about 1257 – Bonagiunta Orbicciani uses guardare “to look”.[8]
  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for “to examine” and “to face”.[8]
  • 1297 – Guardare “to guard” in a Florentine text.[8]
  • 1314 – Barberino uses the intransitive verb, “to take care”.[8]
  • 1703 – Guardacoste “coast-guard ship”.[8]
  • 1964 – Guardone “voyeur”.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To look at, turn one's eyes to: guardava le barche dal molo.[2][3][4]
  2. To watch a programme or show: guardare un film in streaming.[2][3]
  3. To leaf through: guardare una rivista dal parrucchiere.[2]
  4. To examine; to check: guarda bene il resto prima di andare.[2][4]
  5. To consider, see from a point of view: guarda la cosa con calma.[2][3]
  6. To look after, mind: mi guardi la valigia un momento?.[2][4][13]
  7. (intransitive) To take care, try: guarda di non fare tardi.[4][8][1]
  8. (intransitive) To face, look onto: la cucina guarda sul cortile.[8][5][14]
  9. guardarsi: to look at oneself; to beware of, keep away from: guardati dagli adulatori.[8][13][14]

Interjection

  1. guarda!, ma guarda!, guarda un po'': expressing surprise or annoyance.[2][3][5]

Word family

Usage notes

Common phrases include guardare di traverso or storto (to look askance), guardare in faccia (to face up to), guardare dall'alto in basso (to look down on), non guardare in faccia nessuno (to spare no one) and stare a guardare (to stand by and watch).[2][3][14] Dictionaries contrast guardare with vedere, which does not imply fixing one's gaze.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  5. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  6. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1885
  7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 211
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 7
  12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  13. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  14. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana