Etymologically
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indagare

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Pronunciation

  • /in.daˈɡa.re/[1]

Forms

indagare (first-person singular present indàgo, first-person singular past historic indagài, past participle indagàto, auxiliary avére)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin indāgāre (“to track down, trace, investigate”), a learned word.[2][3][4][5] The Latin verb depends on the hunting noun indāgō (“ring of hunters; investigation”), the source of indagine, which first meant the driving of game into a space closed by nets, then the enclosure itself, and in imperial times figuratively an inquiry.[2][6] That noun is a compound of the prefix ind- (“in”), a strengthened form of in-, and the root of agō (“to drive”).[2][7][8][9] Devoto compares other formations with the same prefix, such as indigeno and industria.[7]

DELI counts the verb and its noun among the many Latinisms that took hold from the 17th century on.[2] The same learned verb is Spanish indagar.[3] Latin also had the derivatives indāgātor, the source of indagatore (15th century), and indāgābilis.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI and GRADIT date the verb before 1504, in Pandolfo Collenuccio, transitively, “to search out carefully”.[2][4] Zingarelli has 1499.[8] Collenuccio writes of a man eager to investigate closely the form, nature and cause of a great fire and eruption.[10]

Semantic evolution

The intransitive use, “to carry out inquiries”, is recorded before 1683 (Vittorio Siri); in 1942 Panzini's dictionary noted the stock phrase la polizia indaga, “the police are investigating”.[2] The original hunting sense, of dogs and hunters tracking down game, is recorded in Italian too, but it is now obsolete.[11][8]

Today the verb belongs above all to the language of justice: indagare su un omicidio “to investigate a murder”, and, transitively, indagare qualcuno “to put someone under investigation”; the past participle indagato names a suspect.[4][12][13] In literary use it can also mean “to scrutinize”: D'Annunzio writes of his mother scrutinizing his sleep.[8]

Timeline

  • 15th century – Indagatore “investigator” is recorded.[2][3]
  • Before 1504 – Pandolfo Collenuccio uses indagare.[2][4]
  • 1630–1631 – Galileo uses indagine for “study, analysis”.[2]
  • Before 1683 – Vittorio Siri uses the verb intransitively.[2]
  • 1690 – Indagabile appears in Paolo Segneri.[2]
  • 1942 – Panzini notes the stock phrase la polizia indaga.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive) To investigate, study or examine systematically in order to find out: Gli scienziati indagano le cause del fenomeno.[4][12][13]
  2. (transitive, law) To place someone under judicial investigation: La procura ha indagato il sindaco per corruzione.[12]
  3. (intransitive) To carry out an inquiry, especially a judicial one (+ su): I carabinieri indagano sul furto.[4][12][6]
  4. (intransitive) To gather information, often secretly, about something: indagare sulle intenzioni di qualcuno.[4]
  5. (obsolete) Of hunters or dogs, to track down game.[8][11]

Word family

  • indagine
  • indagatore
  • indagato
  • indagabile
  • indagazione

Usage notes

La polizia indaga “the police are investigating” is a stock phrase already noted by Panzini in 1942.[2] The past participle indagato is also a noun, “person under investigation, suspect”.[13][1]

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 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1999
  6. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  7. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  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. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  11. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  12. ^ a b c d 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 Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana