indirizzare

Forms

indirizzare (first-person singular present indirìzzo, first-person singular past historic indirizzài, past participle indirizzàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old and early modern forms include Old Italian indrizzare, Old Italian inderizzare and Old Italian indriciare.^[2][3]

Etymology

DELI, the TLIO, Devoto–Oli and Zingarelli take it as inherited from Vulgar Latin *indirectiāre, formed with in- (“towards”) on a verb derived from Latin dīrēctus (“straight, direct”), the past participle of dīrigō.^{[3][4][5][6][1][7]} Nocentini, GRADIT and DEI instead see a formation from Italian in- + dirizzare within Italian.^[8][9][10] Devoto saw a cross with Italian diritto.^[11]

Meyer-Lübke lists the verb with French adresser, Spanish enderezar and Portuguese endereçar among the compounds of Vulgar Latin *dīrēctiāre, the source of dirizzare.^[12][13][1] The Latin participle has outcomes all over the Romance area, among them dritto.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Bolognese commentary on the Paradiso by Jacopo della Lana (1324–1328), for turning something in a direction.^[4] GRADIT and Zingarelli date the word to 1336;^[9][6][3] DELI finds the reflexive “to make one's way” in Boccaccio about 1336 and the figurative sense “to guide” in Domenico Cavalca before 1342.^[9][6][3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to send someone or something to a place or person” is in Machiavelli before 1527, and “to put the address on” in Pietro Aretino in 1536.^[3] The derived noun indirizzo meant “guiding principle” in Pietro Bembo (1546) and “address” in Giovanni Maria Cecchi before 1587; it competed for a long time with soprascritta, direzione and mansione.^[3] DELI holds the political sense of indirizzo, an official address to an authority (1797), to be a semantic calque of French adresse, while Tommaseo denied that the postal sense was a Gallicism;^[3][10] DEI notes the French influence on indirizzo “superscription” in the early 19th century.^[3][10] Reflexive indirizzarsi a qualcuno, “to turn to someone for help”, is in Muratori before 1750.^[3]

Timeline

• 1324–1328 – Jacopo della Lana gives the TLIO's first record.^[4]
• About 1336 – Boccaccio uses reflexive indirizzarsi “to make one's way”.^[3]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses the verb for “to guide”.^[3]
• Before 1527 – Machiavelli uses it for “to send”.^[3]
• 1536 – Pietro Aretino uses indrizzare for “to address” a letter.^[3]
• 1546 – Indirizzo “guiding principle” in Pietro Bembo.^[3]
• 1797 – Indirizzo “official address” to an authority.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To direct, send in a direction or to a place: indirizzare i passi verso il fiume.^[9][5][6]
2. To refer someone to a person for help or advice: Ti indirizzo da un buon idraulico.^[9][5][15]
3. (figurative) To start someone on a trade or study, or guide them in a moral choice: indirizzare i ragazzi verso lo sport.^[9][5][6]
4. (figurative) To turn or address (a look, a request, a speech) to someone; to devote (efforts) to an aim.^[9][16][15]
5. To address a letter or parcel, or send it to an address: La lettera era indirizzata a mio padre.^[9][6][16]
6. (reflexive, indirizzarsi) To make one's way; to turn to someone for help or advice.^[6][15][16]

Word family

• indirizzo
• indirizzario
• indirizzamento
• indirizzatore
• rindirizzare

Related words

• drizzare
• diritto
• dirizzare
• French adresser

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2004
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
14. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 2, 588
15. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse