imprendere

Forms

imprendere (first-person singular present imprèndo, first-person singular past historic imprési, past participle impréso, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *imprehendere (“to undertake”), a Vulgar Latin compound of Latin prehendō (“to grasp, seize”) with the prefix in- (“in, upon”).^[2][3][4][1] Nocentini and Devoto–Oli give the contracted form *imprendere, as in prendere.^[3][5][6] Meyer-Lübke lists the Vulgar Latin verb under REW 4317.^[7][8]

The verb is found across the Romance languages except Sardinian and Romanian.^[9] The same word is Old French emprendre, Old Occitan emprendre, Catalan empendre, Spanish emprender and Portuguese emprender, and in Vegliote imprandro.^[3][7] In French it gave way to French entreprendre, which DEI and Meyer-Lübke explain by the influence of German unternehmen.^[9][7]

The Latin verb also had the contracted form prendō.^[10] De Vaan derives it from Proto-Italic *praiχend- (“to seize”), with a nasal present of Proto-Indo-European *gʰ(e)nd- (“to grab”).^[10]

The past participle impreso gave the noun impresa.^[2][11] Its sense “emblem with a motto” came in the 16th century through Spanish empresa or, as R. Coluccia argued, through Catalan empresa, which had spread at Naples under the Aragonese at the end of the 15th century.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Giamboni, who died before 1292, with the sense “to undertake, begin”.^[2] The GDLI quotes him: Il re ricco contra igli uomeni poveri hae impresa battaglia (“the rich king has begun a battle against the poor men”).^[12] Zingarelli dates the verb to about 1261, GRADIT and Devoto–Oli to the second half of the 13th century.^[13][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used imprendere also for “to take”, and above all for “to learn”, the sense that apprendere later took over.^[9][8] The same sense is Old Venetian, while Old French emprendre also meant “to kindle”.^[7] Boccaccio writes ad imprender filosofia il mandò ad Atene (“he sent him to Athens to learn philosophy”), and Tommaseo also gives the senses “to understand” and “to grasp”.^[14][15] GRADIT and Zingarelli record an obsolete sense “to rebuke”.^[4][13]

In modern Italian the verb is literary, in the sense “to undertake, set about”, often with a and an infinitive, as in Dante's impresi dunque a lodare questa donna (“so I undertook to praise this lady”).^[4][5][15] Its derivatives have kept the economic sense alive: imprenditore, “one who undertakes something” in Giovanni Villani, came to mean an entrepreneur in the 18th century, and impresa, first an undertaking (Guinizelli, before 1276), came to mean a business firm in the 17th.^[2][3] impresario was first a contractor for opera performances.^[2]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Giamboni uses imprendere “to undertake, begin”.^[2]
• Before 1348 – Imprenditore appears in Giovanni Villani.^[2][3]
• 1374 – Petrarca uses impresa for a difficult action of doubtful outcome.^[2]
• 1560 – Paolo Giovio's Ragionamento on mottoes and devices called imprese is published at Venice.^[2]
• 1644 – Impresa is recorded as an economic organisation, a firm.^[2]
• Before 1699 – Milanese impresaerij (impresarios) is recorded in C. M. Maggi.^[2]
• 1714 – Impresario appears in P. I. Martello, for the contractors of opera performances.^[2]
• Before 1770 – Imprenditore is used for one who runs an economic activity.^[2]
• 1953 – Imprenditoriale is recorded in a newspaper.^[2][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (literary) To undertake, begin, set about (also with a and an infinitive): imprese a scrivere la storia della sua città.^{[4][5][15][13][11]}
2. (archaic) To learn.^{[4][15][13][16]}
3. (archaic) To understand, grasp.^[4][5][16]
4. (obsolete) To rebuke.^[4][13]

Word family

• impresa
• imprenditore
• imprenditoriale
• impresario
• imprendibile
• imprendimento
• imprendenza

Related words

• prendere
• intraprendere
• apprendere
• French entreprendre
• Latin prehendo

Usage notes

Imprendere is conjugated like prendere: past historic impresi, past participle impreso.^[15][5][11] Today the everyday verb for “to undertake” is intraprendere.^[13][11]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 551
9. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1967
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)