Etymologically
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guidare

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Pronunciation

  • /ɡwiˈda.re/[1]

Forms

guidare (first-person singular present guìdo, first-person singular past historic guidài, past participle guidàto, auxiliary avére)[1]

Etymology

It is a Germanic word, but the route by which it came into Italian is disputed.[2][3][4] Most dictionaries say that it is borrowed from Old Occitan guidar;[5][6][7][8][1][9] Sabatini–Coletti, Treccani, DEI, Devoto and Wiktionary trace the Occitan verb to Frankish *wītan (“to direct, show the way”), while the Devoto–Oli gives a Gothic source.[6][7][8][1][9][5] DELI, following Wilhelm Bruckner (1913), traces it to the same Germanic verb through Gothic, and Nocentini and GRADIT give Gothic *widan (“to show a direction”) as the direct source.[2][3][10] Meyer-Lübke starts from a noun *wida (“guide for a stranger”), from which guida would come and the verb would be derived, but notes that the ⟨-i-⟩ is hard to explain.[4] Earlier proposals, the Gothic verb for “to watch over”, Old Norse vita and Latin vītō (“to avoid”), were rejected by Mackel and Gaston Paris.[11][12]

The related forms are Old Occitan guizar, Catalan guiar, Spanish guiar and Portuguese guiar, and Old French guier.[3][4] French guider, which replaced the Old French verb, was borrowed from Italian.[3][13][4][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Bono Giamboni (before 1292), for going before or with someone as a guide;[2][13] Giamboni writes of needing people “che gli guidino e sappiano bene i passi e le vie” (to guide them, who know the passes and the roads well).[2][13] Monte Andrea, in the 13th century, already uses it for controlling the movements of something, and DEI cites Uguccione da Lodi from the same century.[2][8] Zingarelli dates the verb to before 1257.[14]

Semantic evolution

Dante's Purgatorio has “Chi v'ha guidati, o che vi fu lucerna” (who guided you, or what was your lamp), and Boccaccio (1348–1353) uses the verb for running a business: a young Pisan “che tutti i lor fatti guidava” (who managed all their affairs).[13][2][7] Guidatore is recorded from 1282 and guida, the act of guiding, from Dante's Commedia; a person who shows the way is a guida in Dante too.[2]

In the 19th century guidare i cavalli, or simply guidare, meant driving a carriage (Tommaseo, 1869), and, from 1920 (Panzini) guidare alone meant driving a motor vehicle.[2] Sports writers have used it for “to lead a race or table” since 1926.[2] Tommaseo also records the figurative sense of educating by example.[2]

Timeline

  • 13th century – DEI cites Uguccione da Lodi.[8]
  • Before 1257 – Zingarelli's date of first record.[14]
  • 1282 – Guidatore appears in Restoro d'Arezzo.[2]
  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses guidare “to guide”.[2]
  • 1300–1313 – Dante uses guida for a person who shows the way.[2]
  • 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses guidare for “to manage”.[2]
  • 1869 – Tommaseo records guidare “to drive a carriage”.[2]
  • 1920 – Panzini records guidare “to drive a car”.[2]
  • 1926 – The sports sense “to be in the lead” is recorded.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To guide, lead or accompany someone along a way: La maestra guidò i bambini attraverso il parco.[10][5][6][1]
  2. To serve as a point of reference: Il campanile ci guidò fino al paese.[10][5]
  3. To lead, command or manage: Ha guidato il partito per vent'anni.[10][5][6][1]
  4. (figurative) To direct, educate or inspire: Lo ha guidato nella scelta degli studi.[10][5][14]
  5. To drive a vehicle or animal; also absolutely, to drive a car: Mio nonno guida ancora a ottant'anni.[10][5][6][1]
  6. (sport) To be at the head of a race or a table: guidare la classifica.[14][15]
  7. guidarsi (rare): to conduct oneself.[14][7]

Word family

  • guida
  • guidatore
  • guidabile
  • guidato
  • guidone
  • French guider
  • Spanish guiar

Usage notes

Set phrases include guidare i passi and guidare la mano of someone, “to help and support”.[10][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  7. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  8. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1891
  9. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  10. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  11. ^ Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
  12. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  13. ^ a b c d 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 Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli