importare

Forms

importare (first-person singular present impòrto, past participle importato; auxiliary essere in the sense “to matter”, avere in the sense “to import”)^[1][2]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin importō (“to carry in, bring in; to cause”), formed with in- (“in”) and portō (“to carry”).^[3][4][5][6] The older senses, “to bring about, entail” and then “to matter”, come straight from Latin: the verb passed from “cause, bring with it” to “concern, be of interest”.^[3][4] The commercial sense “to bring in goods from abroad” is younger: it was taken up by English import (1508, with the noun ⟨importation⟩ in 1601) and reached Italian through French importer (1669).^[3][7][8] For this reason Nocentini and GRADIT give the verb two numbered entries, while DELI treats it as one word with senses of different routes.^[4][5][3]

The same Latin verb gave Old French emporter, which was remade as importer in the 16th century; Spanish importar has both senses as well.^[8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Andrea da Grosseto's Tuscan translation of 1268, where the verb means “to have as a consequence, entail”.^[9][10] Dante uses it in this sense in the Convivio (1304–1308): nobility “importa sempre ben del suo subietto” (always implies the good of the one who has it).^[3][11]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb also meant “to signify, express”, as in Petrarch's “Che voglion importar quelle due frondi?” (what do those two branches mean?), and even “to carry off by stealth”.^[9][12][5] The intransitive sense “to matter, be of concern” and the impersonal importa appear in Machiavelli before 1527, and the sense “to be necessary” in Ariosto in 1532.^[3][13] The derivatives importante (1482–1484, Lorenzo de' Medici) and importanza (15th century) belong to this branch.^[3][4]

The trade sense was rare among 18th-century economists and is first clearly recorded in 1828, in a translation from English;^[3] importazione had already won out over asportazione as the opposite of esportazione in Antonio Genovesi before 1769.^[3] Importo “total amount” (1797) was long rejected by purists.^[3] In computing the verb now also means to transfer data from one program to another.^[5][2]

Timeline

• 1268 – Andrea da Grosseto uses the verb for “to entail”.^[9]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses it in the Convivio.^[3]
• 1482–1484 – Lorenzo de' Medici uses importante.^[3]
• Before 1527 – Machiavelli uses it in the sense “to matter”.^[3]
• 1532 – Ariosto uses it in the sense “to be necessary”.^[3]
• 1797 – Importo “total amount” is recorded.^[3]
• 1828 – The sense “to import goods” appears in a translation from English.^[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, auxiliary essere) To matter, be important or of concern to someone: Non mi importa cosa pensano gli altri.^[5][2][6]
2. (impersonal) Non importa: it doesn't matter, never mind.^[5][14]
3. (impersonal) To be necessary: Non importa che tu venga domani.^[5][2]
4. (transitive) To import, to bring goods or services in from abroad: L'Italia importa gas dall'Algeria.^[5][2][6]
5. (transitive) To introduce a fashion, custom or idea from another country.^[5][2][6]
6. (computing) To transfer data or open a file in another program.^[5][2]
7. (rare) To entail, involve; to cost: un lavoro che importa una forte spesa.^[5][14][10]

Word family

• importante
• importanza
• importazione
• importatore
• importo
• importabile
• reimportare

Related words

• portare
• esportare
• apportare
• Latin importō
• English import

Usage notes

Chi se ne importa? “who cares?” is widespread but considered a solecism, modelled on popular chi se ne frega?.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1965
9. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 7, 496
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana