impegnare

Forms

impegnare (first-person singular present impégno, first-person singular past historic impegnài, past participle impegnàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old and dialect Italian also had impignare.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Italian in- + pegno + -are, “to put in pledge”, with the prefix of direction.^[3][4][5][1] The verb Medieval Latin impignare is recorded at Venice in 1164, and the same verb is Old Occitan empenhar, Portuguese empenhar and Spanish empeñar.^[6][2]

The noun pegno is from Latin pignus (“pledge, security”), which DELI and Nocentini connect with pingō (“to paint”), as if the pledge had first been a mark made to recall a promise.^[3][4]

Several later senses, “to commit oneself” and “to engage the enemy”, and the political sense of impegnato, translate French engager and engagement, which is why purists rejected them.^[3][6][7] Devoto calls the participle in the sense “committed” a calque of engagé.^[8] Rigutini answered that impegno in the sense of zeal had examples since the 17th century.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in the 13th century, in the chronicle attributed to Ricordano and Giacotto Malispini, with the sense “to pawn”, to give something as a pledge for a loan.^[3][4] DEI notes a 13th-century record at Piacenza.^[6] Giovanni Villani writes of a king who, having run out of money and pawned his jewels, paid his knights with leather tokens.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Pawning remained the basic sense, often at the Monte di Pietà, and Boccaccio's characters pawn their clothes.^[2][9] In the 16th and 17th centuries the verb spread to obligations: impegnarsi “to set about a task with effort” (1537–40, Guicciardini), “to commit oneself” (before 1566, Ruscelli), and impegnare “to bind someone by promises” (1677).^[3] Military writers used it for forcing the enemy into battle (1630, Davila).^[3]

The noun impegno “obligation” is recorded in 1640, and in the sense of diligent effort from 1686.^[3] Later senses are “to reserve” (1879, Carducci) and, in sport, “to force the opponent into hard defence” (1965).^[3] After 1950 impegnato and impegno took the sense of the intellectual's political commitment, after French engagé and engagement.^[3][8]

Timeline

• 1164 – Medieval Latin impignare is recorded at Venice.^[6][5]
• 13th century – Impegnare “to pawn” appears in the Malispini chronicle.^[3][4]
• 1537–1540 – Guicciardini uses impegnarsi for setting about an undertaking.^[3]
• 1630 – Davila uses the verb for engaging the enemy.^[3]
• 1640 – The noun impegno is recorded.^[3][4]
• 1677 – Gualdo Priorato has the sense “to bind by promises”.^[3]
• 1879 – Carducci uses the verb for reserving something.^[3]
• 1950 – Impegnato in the political sense is recorded.^[3]
• 1965 – The sports sense is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To pawn, to give something as a pledge for a loan; figuratively, to pledge one's word or honour: Ha impegnato l'anello della nonna.^{[5][10][7][1]}
2. (transitive) To invest money, or to mortgage a property.^[5][10]
3. (transitive) To bind or oblige someone, especially by an agreement: L'accordo ci impegna a pagare entro maggio.^[5][10][11]
4. (transitive) To reserve or book: impegnare due posti a teatro.^[5][10][7]
5. (transitive) To keep someone busy, to take up their time and effort: Il trasloco mi ha impegnato tutta la settimana.^[5][7][12]
6. (transitive) To occupy or block a place: impegnare il passaggio pedonale.^[10][12]
7. (transitive, military) To engage the enemy in battle;^[5][11][12] impegnare il combattimento, to begin the fight.^[5][11][12]
8. (transitive, sports) To force an opponent into hard defence: impegnare il portiere.^[5][11]
9. (reflexive, impegnarsi) To commit oneself to something, or to put all one's effort into it: Si è impegnato a finire il lavoro.^[7][11][12]

Word family

• impegno
• impegnato
• impegnativo
• disimpegnare
• rimpegnare

Related words

• pegno
• French engager

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, p. 7, 427
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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 e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1957
7. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 220
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)