Etymologically
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lasciare

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Pronunciation

  • /laʃˈʃa.re/[1]

Forms

lasciare (first-person singular present làscio, first-person singular past historic lasciài, past participle lasciàto, auxiliary avére)[1] Old and now vulgar lassare is in Guittone and Dante.[2][3] Old Italian also had lagare (Fra Giordano, Sacchetti), which Prati derives from a northern lagar.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin laxāre (“to widen, loosen, release”), from laxus (“loose, wide”).[4][5][6][1] In Latin the verb took the place of linquō (“to leave”), first as a synonym of permittō (“to allow”) and then of sinō (“to let”), as Löfstedt showed.[4] DEI considers the Tuscan form northern in origin;[7] Körting derives its ⟨sc⟩ from a Vulgar Latin *laxiāre.[8]

The verb is panromance: French laisser, Occitan laisar, Romanian lăsa and Sardinian lassare, and with an initial /d/ Catalan deixar, Spanish dejar and Portuguese deixar.[5][9] Meyer-Lübke calls the forms with /d/ unexplained and suggests the influence of dare.[9]

De Vaan derives ⟨laxus⟩ from Proto-Italic *(s)lakso- and Proto-Indo-European *slǵ-so- “weak, faint”, of the family of Latin langueō (“to be faint”);[10] Nocentini and Devoto compare Ancient Greek λήγω (lḗgō, “to cease”).[5][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini and GRADIT date the verb before 1250.[5][6] DELI's first records, both from the 13th century, are Paolo Zoppo for “to let go of” and Giacomino Pugliese for “to abandon, leave”.[4] Giacomino laments his dead lady: “Madonna de sta vita trapassao, / con gran tristanza / sospiri e pene e pianti mi lasciao” (my lady passed from this life, and left me with great sadness sighs, pains and tears).[3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the verb for leaving a place or person, for leaving property by will (Brunetto Latini, before 1294) and for letting someone do something (Compagnetto da Prato, 13th century).[4] Lasciare il mondo meant to die, and also to enter religious life.[4][12] Boccaccio has lasciare andare and lasciare correre (to let things go, not to worry), and lasciare la pelle (to die) is in Annibal Caro in 1561.[4] Later phrases include lasciare in bianco (to leave blank, 1575), lasciarsi andare (to give way, 1544) and lasciare stare (to leave alone, 1752).[4]

The noun lascito “legacy” is recorded before 1311.[4][5] Lasciapassare “pass, permit” renders French laissez-passer (1675) in the form of the Italian compounds that begin with an imperative; it is in customs documents of 1798–1799 and in Leopardi in 1831.[4]

Timeline

  • Before 1250 – First record of the verb.[5][6]
  • 13th century – Paolo Zoppo uses it for “to let go”, Giacomino Pugliese for “to leave”.[4]
  • Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for “to bequeath”.[4]
  • Before 1311 – Lascito “legacy” in Giordano da Pisa.[4]
  • 1348–1353 – Lasciare andare, lasciare correre in Boccaccio.[4]
  • 1561 – Lasciare la pelle “to die” in Annibal Caro.[4]
  • 1831 – Lasciapassare in Leopardi.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To let go of, stop holding: lascia la corda!, il gatto non lasciava la presa.[6][12][13]
  2. To leave, go away from a place or a person: lasciò il paese a vent'anni.[6][14][12]
  3. To leave for good, break up with: ha lasciato la fidanzata, (euphemistic) to die: il nonno ci ha lasciati.[14][15][13]
  4. To leave behind, on purpose or by mistake: ho lasciato le chiavi in ufficio.[6][14][16]
  5. To keep, set aside or entrust: lasciami un po' di torta, lascio il cane ai vicini.[6][16]
  6. To bequeath: ha lasciato la casa ai nipoti.[12][16]
  7. To leave in a state: lasciare la finestra aperta, lasciami in pace.[12][15]
  8. To let, allow, with an infinitive: lascialo parlare.[6][13]
  9. To give up, quit: ha lasciato il nuoto.[15]
  10. lasciarsi: to split up, lasciarsi andare, to let oneself go.[4][6]

Word family

  • lascito
  • lasciapassare
  • tralasciare

Usage notes

The future and conditional are spelled without i: lascerò, lascerei.[12][16] Common idioms are lasciare a desiderare (to leave something to be desired), lasciare in asso (to leave in the lurch), lasciare il segno (to leave a mark), lasciare perdere (to drop it) and prendere o lasciare (take it or leave it).[6][13]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 577
  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 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
  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 h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2172
  8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 254
  12. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  14. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  15. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  16. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli