invitare

Forms

invitare (first-person singular present invìto, first-person singular past historic invitài, past participle invitàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Older forms include Old Italian envitare (Iacopone) and invittare.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin invītō (“to entertain, receive; to invite”), a learned word.^[2][4][5][1] The popular descendants of the Latin verb mean “to challenge, to bid in a game”: Old French envier, Old Occitan envidar, Catalan envidar, Spanish envidar and Portuguese envidar; for the Latin sense, Romance turned to convītō (“to invite”), whence convitare.^[6][7] French inviter is from the 14th century.^[8] The noun invito is an Italian deverbal;^[2] DELI also mentions Bruno Migliorini's idea that it began as the first person of the verb, lifted from formulas such as “I invite Mr X to take part”.^[2]

The origin of the Latin verb is uncertain.^[2][9] DELI and Nocentini analyse it as in- and a verb formed from an unattested adjective *vītus (“well disposed”), found with the negative prefix in invītus (“unwilling”); the original sense would have been “to treat well, receive kindly”.^[2][4] De Vaan reconstructs a verb Proto-Italic *wītā- (“to pursue”), from Proto-Indo-European *uih₁-to- (“pursued”), which is related to Sanskrit वीत (vītá, “turned to”) and Lithuanian vyti (“to drive, pursue”).^[9] DEI's derivation from the negative prefix and vītō (“to avoid”) stands alone.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's earliest sense is “to induce, urge”, in the Sicilian poet Odo delle Colonne in the 13th century.^[2] The sense “to ask someone to take part in something solemn or pleasant” follows in Iacopone da Todi (before 1306) as envitare: Amanti, voi envito a noze sì ioiose (“Lovers, I invite you to a wedding so joyful”).^[2][3] Dante has invitare.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Dante and Donato degli Albanzani also use the verb for requesting with authority that someone do or say something.^[2] In Boccaccio a woman sé stessa invitava “invited herself”, not with words but with deeds.^[3] Card games gave the senses “to call a card or suit” (Castiglione, before 1529) and, in poker, “to make the opening bet” (1939–1940).^[2] Medieval Latin names of games of chance at Perugia (1296) and Assisi (1469) come from the same verb.^[8] DEI considers the sense “to order politely” a French borrowing of the 18th century.^[8]

Modern Italian also uses it for a command given with formal courtesy, for tempting or inducing, as with weather that invites a walk, and in sport for challenging an opponent.^[5][10]

Timeline

• 13th century – Odo delle Colonne uses the verb for “to induce, urge”.^[2]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses envitare “to invite”.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses invitare.^[2]
• Before 1529 – Castiglione uses it for calling a card in a game.^[2]
• 1834 – Invitare “to screw in” is recorded.^[5][11]
• 1939–1940 – The poker sense is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To invite someone to a party, meal or event: Ci hanno invitati a pranzo domenica.^[5][11][12]
2. To offer hospitality: Mi ha invitato a passare l'estate da lui.^[11]
3. To ask politely to do or say something; to urge: Il presidente invitò i presenti a prendere posto.^[5][11][12]
4. To order with formal courtesy: L'agente lo invitò a mostrare i documenti.^[5][12][10]
5. (figurative) To tempt, induce: Una giornata così invita a stare all'aperto.^[5][13][10]
6. To challenge; to propose a game: invitare qualcuno a scacchi.^[5][11]
7. (card games) To call a card or suit; in poker, to make the opening bet.^[5][12][13]
8. (literary) To rouse, incite.^[5][13]

Word family

• invito
• invitante
• invitato
• disinvitare
• autoinvitarsi
• invitabile
• invitatore
• invitatorio
• reinvitare

Related words

• convitare
• Latin invītō
• French inviter

Usage notes

Invitare a nozze means to offer someone exactly what they like or do best.^[11][13][10] A minor homograph, invitare “to screw in, fix with screws” (1834), is formed from vite “screw” with in-;^[5][11][14] GRADIT marks it as rare, and the usual word is avvitare.^[5][11][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 p 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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 8, 452
4. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ 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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2085
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 f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 8, 453