imbevere

Forms

imbevere (first-person singular present imbévo, first-person singular past historic imbévvi or imbevétti or (traditional) imbevètti, past participle imbevùto, first-person singular future imberrò, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin imbibere (“to drink in, absorb”), formed from in- and bibō (“to drink”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} DELI finds no popular continuation of the Latin verb in Italian, and, following Wagner's Sardinian dictionary, rules out Sardinian impipiri.^[2] Others treat it as inherited: Sabatini–Coletti calls it the word of popular tradition beside the learned imbibire, and Wiktionary derives it by inheritance.^[6][1] Its stem follows bevere, the older form of bere.^[7]

Meyer-Lübke and Körting list the Campidanese form among the outcomes of the Latin verb, with a Comasque word meaning “talk someone into”.^[8][9] DEI compares Old French emboivre and the Sardinian word.^[10]

The Latin simple verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *píph₃eti, a reduplicated present.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Paduan translation of Serapion, from after 1390, with the sense “soak something completely by dipping it in a liquid”.^[11] DEI dates the verb to the 13th or 14th century, DELI to the 15th, in treatises on glassmaking (“wet, soak, impregnate”).^[10][2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “absorb” is in Giovan Vettorio Soderini (before 1597), and the pronominal imbeversi, “let a liquid soak in”, in Ludovico delle Colombe (1612).^[2] The figurative sense “take in deeply”, of ideas, is older, in Annibal Caro (before 1566).^[2] Galileo used it of light: Copernicus held that the moon's matter might imbeversi del lume solare and pass it on.^[12] DEI dates the use for instilling passions to the 19th century.^[10]

Tommaseo records an older form imbere, and Zingarelli an obsolete imbibere.^[12][13]

Timeline

• After 1390 – A Paduan translation of Serapion has the first record.^[11]
• 15th century – Treatises on the art of glass use it for soaking.^[2]
• Before 1566 – Annibal Caro uses imbeversi figuratively.^[2]
• Before 1597 – Giovan Vettorio Soderini uses it for absorbing.^[2]
• 1612 – Ludovico delle Colombe uses imbeversi for letting a liquid soak in.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, uncommon) To absorb a liquid.^{[4][13][6][1]}
2. (transitive) To soak or saturate something with a liquid: imbevere di caffè i savoiardi.^{[4][14][13][1]}
3. (pronominal) imbeversi: to become soaked with a liquid.^[13][5][6]
4. (pronominal, figurative) imbeversi: to take ideas, doctrines or prejudices deeply into oneself.^[13][6][5]

Word family

• imbevuto
• imbevimento
• rimbevere

Related words

• bere
• bevere
• imbibire
• Latin imbibō

Usage notes

It is conjugated like bere (future imberrò).^[6][13][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1940
11. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier