imporre

Forms

imporre (first-person singular present impóngo, first-person singular past historic impósi, past participle impósto or impòsto, first-person singular imperfect imponévo, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin impōnere (“to place on; to impose”), reshaped after porre.^[2][3][4][5] The older form was Old Italian imponere, and an old emporre is also recorded.^[6][7][8] Battisti and Alessio note that from the Itala translations on, Christian Latin used the compound as a synonym of the simple verb “to put”.^[9] The verb has close relatives only in the Iberian Peninsula, in Old Spanish emponer and Portuguese empor.^[10][11]

The Latin verb is a compound of in- (“on”) and pōnō (“to put”).^[2][10][12] The simple verb goes back to Proto-Italic *po-sinō (“to put down”), from sinō (“to let, allow”) with an old prefix ⟨po-⟩; once that link was forgotten, a new perfect was formed to the participle.^[13][13]

Several modern senses were taken from French: the reflexive “to make one's mark” from French s’imposer, imponente from imposant, recorded in 1715, and imponibile “taxable” from imposable.^[2][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Breve di Montieri of 1219, a statute of the Tuscan mining town, in the sense “to make someone observe or respect something”; it has the future emporae “shall order”.^[2][14]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses the sense “to command, enjoin” in 1300–1313.^[2] The literal sense “to place on” is recorded about 1350, in the translation of Crescenzi, and in some passages of the Commedia with shades of its own.^[2] Boccaccio has imporre a name, Giovanni Villani imporre taxes, and in the 17th century the verb could mean “to deceive”, a sense Latin impōnere also had.^[15][9][12] The noun imposta “tax” is recorded before 1292, in Bono Giamboni, and the same word for a window shutter, which is “placed on” the window, before 1574, in Vasari.^[2]

The reflexive imporsi “to assert one's authority over others” appears before 1872, in Mazzini, and “to succeed, catch on” in 1957.^[2] The intransitive imporsi “to become necessary” is in Rigutini's dictionary of neologisms of 1886, with Questioni che s'impongono (“questions that demand attention”), and in Vittorio Betteloni before 1910.^[2]

Timeline

• 1219 – The Breve di Montieri has imporre and the future emporae.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses imposta “tax”.^[2]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses imporre “to command”.^[2]
• c. 1350 – The translation of Crescenzi uses it for “to place on”.^[2]
• Before 1574 – Vasari uses imposta for a shutter.^[2]
• 1715 – French imposant is recorded, the model of imponente.^[2]
• 1798 – Imponibile “taxable” is recorded.^[2][10]
• Before 1872 – Mazzini uses imporsi “to assert oneself”.^[2]
• 1886 – Rigutini records imporsi “to become necessary”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To impose: to make someone obey or accept something, such as a rule, a condition or one's will: Il nuovo direttore ha imposto orari più rigidi.^{[14][6][7][1]}
2. (transitive) To levy a tax or duty.^[14][3][16]
3. (transitive) To order, command: imporre a qualcuno di fare qualcosa;^{[14][6][16][1]} imporre il silenzio, to order silence.^{[14][6][16][1]}
4. (transitive, of circumstances) To require, call for: La neve impone prudenza agli automobilisti.^{[14][6][3][1]}
5. (transitive, literary) To place on top: imporre le mani, to lay hands on someone in blessing or consecration; also to place a crown on someone's head.^[14][7][16]
6. (transitive) To give a name, especially at baptism.^[14][6][7]
7. (transitive) To promote someone or something with determination, as a product on the market.^[6]
8. (reflexive, imporsi) To assert oneself or prevail over others; to win, to beat an opponent; to stand out.^[16][17][18]
9. (pronominal, imporsi) To become established, to catch on; also to become necessary: Si impone una decisione.^[17][16][18]
10. (transitive, archaic) To attribute, impute.^[14][6][17]

Word family

• imponibile
• imponente
• imponenza
• imponibilità
• imposizione
• imposta
• impositore
• impositivo
• sovrimposta
• sovrimporre
• disimporre
• impositorio
• reimporre

Related words

• imposto
• porre
• Latin impono

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 r 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 Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
4. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 7, 493
9. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1965
10. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
15. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
16. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
17. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
18. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli