imparare

Forms

imparare (first-person singular present impàro, first-person singular past historic imparài, past participle imparàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] An old variant is Old Italian emparare.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *imparāre (“to acquire, take possession of”), a verb of spoken Latin formed with in- on Latin parō (“to prepare; to procure”).^[3][4][5][1] The sense “to learn” grew out of “to acquire” (knowledge), as it did in apprendere.^[3][6] Outside Italian the verb lives on in Sardinian imparare, which means “to teach”, and in the Romansh of the Surselva, Romansh ampra “to learn”, while Catalan emprar took the senses “to borrow; to use”.^[7][6]

The older language also had Old Italian apparare “to learn”, from Latin apparō, the classical verb with the same base.^[8][6] De Vaan explains the Latin verb as a denominative of a noun Proto-Indo-European *prh₃-o- (“providing”), related to Ancient Greek ἔπορον (époron, “provided, gave”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is an absolute use in Dante (1313–1319), who uses the verb with certainty only once in his works.^[3][5] The sense “to gain knowledge by study, practice or observation” follows in Domenico Cavalca (before 1342), and “to learn by experience” in Petrarch (1374).^[3] Zingarelli dates the word earlier, to before 1257.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century the verb was also used for “to teach”, by Gelli, Luigi Alamanni and Cecchi among others.^[11] That sense survives in central and southern Italian and in popular speech, as in Pasolini's “mbè te lo imparo”, but Treccani calls it widespread and wrong.^[10][12][13] In the centre and south the verb can also mean “to come to know, find out”.^[12][14]

The noun imparaticcio, knowledge picked up in a hurried and shallow way, is recorded in the Crusca dictionary of 1691, and Magalotti (before 1712) used it for a piece of work done for practice.^[3][4] Disimparare “to unlearn” goes back to the 16th century.^[4][11] Two proverbs are common: sbagliando s'impara (one learns by making mistakes) and impara l'arte e mettila da parte (learn a skill and put it aside, as it may be useful one day).^[10][13]

Timeline

• Before 1257 – Zingarelli's date for the first record.^[10]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses imparare without an object.^[3][5]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses it for learning by study.^[3]
• 1374 – Petrarch uses it for learning by experience.^[3]
• 16th century – Disimparare is recorded, and writers such as Gelli use imparare for “to teach”.^[4][11]
• 1691 – Imparaticcio appears in the third Crusca dictionary.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To learn by study or practice, to get by heart: Sto imparando il tedesco da due anni.^{[5][12][14][1]}
2. (transitive, with a and an infinitive) To learn how to do something: Mio figlio ha imparato a nuotare quest'estate.^[5][12][10]
3. (transitive or absolute) To learn from experience: imparare a proprie spese, to learn the hard way, and così impari!, that will teach you.^[5][10][13]
4. (regional, central and southern Italy) To come to know, find out.^[12][14][13]
5. (regional, popular) To teach.^{[5][12][10][1]}

Word family

• imparaticcio
• disimparare
• imparacchiare
• reimparare

Related words

• apprendere
• parare
• Latin paro

Usage notes

Imparare a memoria or a mente means “to learn by heart”.^[12][13] The use for “to teach” is regional and is treated as an error in the standard language.^[13][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1954
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 549
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c d e f Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse