lamentare

Forms

lamentare (first-person singular present laménto, first-person singular past historic lamentài, past participle lamentàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old and dialect forms include Old Italian laimentare and Old Italian lamendare.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Late Latin lāmentāre (“to lament”), the Late Latin active form of classical lāmentārī.^{[4][2][5][6][7]} The Latin verb is a derivative of lāmentum (“lament, wailing”), a noun formed with the suffix -mentum on a base ⟨lā-⟩ that Nocentini considers imitative.^[8][9][10] Wiktionary instead reconstructs Proto-Italic *lāmentom and Proto-Indo-European *léh₂mn̥tom, from *leh₂-.^[1]

The Late Latin verb also gave French lamenter, Occitan lamentar, Catalan llamentar, Spanish lamentar and Portuguese lamentar.^[8][11][12] The noun lamento was likewise taken from the Latin noun by learned transmission.^[8]

For the old form laimentare, Contini suggested a cross with guaimentare.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the reflexive laimentarsi “to show resentment, to complain” in the 12th-century Panfilo.^[3] The TLIO's first example is in the Libro of Uguccione da Lodi, from the early 13th century, in the dialect of Cremona.^[13]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century Stefano Protonotaro used the transitive verb for “to find a cause of grief in something”, and Giacomino Pugliese the reflexive for “to complain”.^[3] Dante and the Novellino have lamentarsi “to show pain with laments” before 1294.^[3] The Old Italian verb could also mean to mourn the dead, and in law to lodge a complaint with an authority.^[13]

Older writers used the verb without the reflexive particle, as Petrarch does in Giusto duol certo a lamentar mi mena (“just grief surely leads me to lament”), and the infinitive served as a noun, il lamentar.^[5][14] The noun lamentela, before 1898, was formed on lamentarsi on the model of querela.^[8] In today's newspapers si lamentano records casualties or damage with regret.^[15][7][4]

Timeline

• 12th century – Laimentarsi “to complain” appears in the Panfilo.^[3]
• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses the verb.^[13]
• 13th century – Stefano Protonotaro uses the transitive lamentare.^[3]
• Before 1294 – Dante and the Novellino use lamentarsi “to wail”.^[3]
• Before 1898 – The noun lamentela is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To lament, to grieve over: Il paese lamenta la scomparsa del suo sindaco.^[15][7][10]
2. (transitive) To point out with regret, to deplore: I pendolari lamentano ritardi continui.^[15][7][10]
3. (impersonal, journalism) To report with regret: Nello scontro non si lamentano feriti.^[15][7][4]
4. (transitive) To complain of a symptom: lamentare un dolore alla schiena.^[4]
5. (lamentarsi) To moan, to groan with pain: Il bambino si è lamentato per tutta la sera.^[7][10][4]
6. (lamentarsi) To complain, to grumble: Si lamenta sempre del traffico.^[7][10][4]

Word family

• lamentela
• lamentevole
• lamentanza
• lamentabile
• lamentatore
• lamentio

Related words

• lamento
• lamentazione
• lamentoso
• Latin lamentum

Usage notes

Non mi lamento and non posso lamentarmi say that one is reasonably satisfied.^[4][7][5]

References

1. ^ a b c 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2155
12. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
13. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET