intendere

Forms

intendere (first-person singular present intèndo, first-person singular past historic intési, past participle intéso, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian entendere, Old Italian intendre, Old Italian intendare and Old Italian entendare.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin intendō (“to stretch towards; to direct; to aim at, pay attention”), formed from tendō (“to stretch”) with in- (“towards”).^[3][4][5][1] The verb is found in all the Romance languages: French entendre, Occitan entendre, Catalan entendre, Spanish entender, Portuguese entender, Sardinian intendere and Romanian întinde (“to stretch out”).^[3][6] Romanian keeps the physical sense; elsewhere Romance used it above all for directing the ear and the mind, so that the French and Occitan verbs mean “to hear” and Spanish “to understand”, and Old Italian had both senses.^[6][7] DELI and the GDLI class the Italian word as learned, while Nocentini and Wiktionary treat it as inherited.^[8][2][3][1]

tendō continues Proto-Indo-European *ten-d(h)- (“to stretch”), an extension of the root Proto-Indo-European *ten- that also gave teneō (“to hold”);^[9][1] Wiktionary compares Ancient Greek τείνω (teínō, “to stretch”) and Sanskrit तनोति (tanóti, “stretches”).^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is intransitive, “to devote oneself to something”, in a poet of the late 12th century, T. Galliziani or Rinaldo d'Aquino.^[8] The transitive senses “to understand, interpret” (Chiaro Davanzati) and “to hear” (Brunetto Latini, before 1294) follow in the 13th century;^[8][4] GRADIT dates the verb before 1294.^[8][4] Dante's damned souls change colour “ratto che inteser le parole crude” (as soon as they heard the cruel words).^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the verb also meant “to come to know” and “to heed, obey”, and Brunetto Latini already used it for “to want, demand”;^[8] “to have in mind, intend” is recorded in Andrea Lancia, before about 1356.^[8] The reciprocal intendersi “to agree” is in Dino Compagni (1310–1312) and intendersi di “to be knowledgeable about” in the Novellino.^[8] The sense “to hear” is now regional or uncommon.^[10]

Several derivatives came back through French.^[8][3] The French nominalized participle intendant (1568) named a royal official; the office and its name were introduced into Piedmont in 1696, and intendente as a noun is recorded from 1647.^[8] Intesa “agreement” (1699, Filippo Corsini) took the political sense of French entente in 1914, in Triplice Intesa.^[8] Modern law speaks of the capacità di intendere e di volere, the capacity to understand and to will.^[4]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – Intransitive intendere “to devote oneself to” is first recorded.^[8]
• 13th century – Chiaro Davanzati uses it for “to understand” and intenzione.^[8]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for “to hear” and intenditore.^[8][4]
• 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses intendersi “to agree”.^[8]
• Before about 1356 – Andrea Lancia uses it for “to intend”.^[8]
• 1647 – Intendente is recorded as a noun for an official.^[8]
• 1699 – Filippo Corsini uses intesa “agreement”.^[8]
• 1914 – Triplice Intesa names the alliance of the Entente.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To understand, grasp the meaning of something; to understand a language: Intende bene lo spagnolo ma non lo parla.^[4][5][11]
2. To mean, wish to say: Che cosa intendi con questa parola?^[10][1]
3. To intend, have the intention of doing something, with an infinitive: Intendiamo partire domattina presto.^[11][12][10]
4. To interpret, take in a certain way: Ha inteso la mia battuta come un'offesa.^[4][5][11]
5. (regional) To hear; to learn, hear of: Ho inteso dei passi sulle scale.^[5][11][10]
6. To heed, listen to, non intendere ragione, to refuse to listen to reason.^[12][11]
7. (intendersi) To be expert in something (intendersi di); to understand each other, agree: Su questo ci intendiamo.^[4][12][1]

Word family

• intendente
• intendenza
• intendimento
• intenditore
• intento
• intenzione
• intenzionale
• intenzionato
• intesa
• inteso
• fraintendere
• sottintendere
• sottinteso

Related words

• tendere
• Latin intendō
• French entendre

Usage notes

Common phrases are s'intende “of course”, dare a intendere “to make someone believe something untrue”, lasciare intendere “to hint”, and the proverb chi ha orecchie per intendere intenda.^[4][12][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 8
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 h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
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 Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
11. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli