investigare

Forms

investigare (first-person singular present invèstigo, first-person singular past historic investigài, past participle investigàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian envestigare and Old Italian investicare.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin investīgāre (“to track down, search out”).^[4][5][6][1] That verb is from Latin in- + vestīgō (“to follow the tracks”);^{[4][6][7][5][8]} DELI, GRADIT and Sabatini–Coletti take the prefix as intensive, Nocentini and Treccani as locative.^{[4][6][7][5][8]}

DELI calls vestīgō of obscure origin and Nocentini finds no comparison for it.^[4][5] De Vaan doubts that vestīgium (“footprint, track”) came first and the verb second; he finds attractive a derivation from an older *verstīgium, linked with verrō (“to sweep”), so that the verb may continue a phrase “to draw a furrow” from Proto-Indo-European *urs-ti- (“furrow”).^[9] The noun gave Italian vestigio.^[5][10]

Spanish investigar has the same source, and DEI names French investigation (14th century) and English investigate among the related words of other languages.^[5][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Andrea da Grosseto's Tuscan translation of 1268, with the sense “to search for evidence, try to find something out”.^[2][12] DELI dates the word to the 14th century, in Fra Giordano da Pisa, Boccaccio and Pisan documents of 1313–1323.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the verb for an authority conducting an inquiry, and for examining in depth or penetrating with the mind.^[2] The absolute use, “to carry out inquiries”, is dated by DELI to the 14th-century Bible translation.^[4] Tommaseo set it apart from indagare and ricercare: investigare, with the sound and image of vestigio, is to look closely and at length for something by following signs and clues.^[13][3]

Derivatives followed: investigatore (1348–1353, Boccaccio, investigatore privato, 1957), investigazione (before 1363) and investigativo (before 1332).^[4]

Timeline

• 1268 – Andrea da Grosseto uses investigare.^[2][12]
• Before 1332 – Investigativo is recorded.^[4]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses investigatore.^[4]
• Before 1363 – Villani uses investigazione.^[4]
• 1957 – Investigatore privato “private investigator” is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To investigate, examine closely by following every clue: investigare le ragioni di una scelta.^[6][14][12]
2. (intransitive) To carry out inquiries, especially as the police do: Gli inquirenti investigano sul furto.^[6][14][7]
3. (literary) To discover, bring to light.^[6]
4. (literary) To observe closely, scan; to explore a place.^[6][14][8]

Word family

• investigatore
• investigazione
• investigativo
• investigabile

Related words

• indagare
• vestigio
• Latin investīgō

Usage notes

The present is stressed invèstigo, invèstighi; the older investìgo follows the Latin stress.^[12][14][8]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
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. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2082
12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ 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