Etymologically
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insegnare

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Pronunciation

  • /in.seɲˈɲa.re/[1]

Forms

insegnare (first-person singular present inségno, first-person singular past historic insegnài, past participle insegnàto, auxiliary avére)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin īnsignō (“to imprint signs”), a verb of the Latin glosses, formed with an intensive in- from signō (“to mark; to show, explain”), in the sense “to show, explain” that the verb had in imperial Latin.[2][3][4][5] Nocentini sees the meaning develop from “to imprint signs” through “to signify, to convey information” to “to instruct”.[6] In the glosses the Latin verb translates Ancient Greek ἐγχαράσσω (encharássō, “to engrave”).[3][7] Migliorini suggested that the Latin words for learning and teaching that Romance kept arose in student slang, at a time when fewer people went to school: the verb would first have meant “to engrave”, then “to drum into someone's head”.[2][8]

The verb is panromance: French enseigner, Occitan ensenhar, Catalan ensenyar, Spanish enseñar, Portuguese ensinar and Romanian însemna (“to mean”).[6][9][10] DEI notes that in much of the South it gave way to descendants of a Vulgar Latin *invitiō.[3] The base noun Latin signum (“mark, sign”) is traced by de Vaan to a Proto-Italic *sekno-, and further to the root of secō (“to cut”): a sign was first something cut or carved out.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is an anonymous 13th-century text, and a letter of Soffredi del Grazia of 1275 speaks of the “volontà d'aparare e d'insegnare” (the will to learn and to teach).[2] The sense was “to explain a subject, an art or a craft to someone step by step so that they learn it”.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The older sense “to show, point out” is in Dante (1313–1319), and in Boccaccio it means pointing out where someone or something is.[2][12] Wiktionary still records “to show” as dated Roman usage, a sense that Spanish enseñar keeps.[1] The moral sense, “to shape someone's conduct by rules and example”, is in Bartolomeo da San Concordio before 1347, and the intransitive use “to work as a teacher” in Francesco da Barberino before 1348.[2]

The noun insegnamento is in Pier della Vigna before 1249 in the sense “precept”, and in Brunetto Latini before 1292.[2] Insegnante, first a participle, became the noun for a qualified teacher in Tommaseo's dictionary of 1869.[2] Tommaseo thought the verb wider than ammaestrare and than Latin docere, since it reaches the mind, the heart and outward things alike.[7]

Timeline

  • 13th century – An anonymous text has the first record.[2]
  • Before 1249 – Pier della Vigna uses insegnamento.[2]
  • 1275 – Soffredi del Grazia pairs aparare and insegnare.[2]
  • 1313–1319 – Dante uses the sense “to show, point out”.[2]
  • Before 1347 – Bartolomeo da San Concordio uses the moral sense.[2]
  • Before 1348 – Francesco da Barberino uses it of working as a teacher.[2]
  • 1869 – Insegnante is recorded as a noun for a teacher.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To teach a subject, an art or a skill so that someone learns it: Mia nonna mi ha insegnato a fare la pasta in casa.[4][13][5]
  2. To make someone learn something by heart, such as a prayer or a poem.[4][14][15]
  3. To work as a teacher, often without an object: Insegna storia in un liceo di Bari.[4][13][14]
  4. To teach a way of behaving or a moral rule: I miei genitori mi hanno insegnato il rispetto per gli anziani.[4][13][5]
  5. In rebukes and threats: Ti insegno io a rientrare a quest'ora![4][14][15]
  6. Of an experience or an example, to be a lesson: Quella sconfitta ci ha insegnato parecchio.[4][13]
  7. To show, point out: Mi può insegnare la via per il porto?[5][16][14]

Word family

  • insegnamento
  • insegnante
  • insegnabile
  • insegnatore
  • insegnativo
  • reinsegnare

Usage notes

Come lei m'insegna and come tu m'insegni are polite, often ironic, formulas that introduce something obvious, as if the listener knew it better.[4][13][15] A proverb says chi sa fa e chi non sa insegna: those who know a trade practise it, those who don't teach it.[14]

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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2047
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  6. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  8. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 8, 94
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  12. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 561
  13. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  14. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  15. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli