lavare

Forms

lavare (first-person singular present làvo, first-person singular past historic lavài, past participle lavàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lavō (“to wash”).^[2][3][4][1] The verb is found in all the Romance languages: French laver, Occitan lavar, Catalan lavar, Spanish lavar, Portuguese lavar and Romanian la.^[3][5] The DÉRom reconstructs two Proto-Romance variants, an older one of the second conjugation kept only in Logudorese Sardinian, and one of the first conjugation found everywhere.^[6]

In Latin the infinitive of the third conjugation meant “to wash something” and that of the first “to wash oneself”, and there were the compounds in -luō (from which Italian diluvio and alluvione).^[7][3] The root is Proto-Indo-European *lewh₃- (“to wash”), also in Ancient Greek λούω (loúō, “I wash”) and λουτρόν (loutrón, “bath”), and in Old High German louga (“lye”).^[7][3][1] DELI, however, calls the connections with other languages uncertain.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Cremonese poet Uguccione da Lodi, at the beginning of the 13th century, with the sense of cleaning something of dirt, especially with water.^[8] DELI dates the reflexive lavarsi to Iacopone da Todi (before 1306) and “to clean by soaking and rubbing in a liquid” to Dante (1313–1319).^[2]

Semantic evolution

Dante also has the figurative sense “to purify, redeem” (1300–1313), and Cavalca the absolute lavare, to do washing for a living, as of a mother who went out a lavare panni a prezzo (before 1342).^[2][9] Old Italian also said that a river or the sea washes a land, and used the verb for cleansing the body in medicine.^[8] The washerwoman, lavandaia, goes back to Medieval Latin lavandaria in Salimbene (1281–1288).^[2]

Lavarsene le mani, to refuse all responsibility, recalls Pilate washing his hands in Matthew 27:24;^[2][10] DELI notes that the Jewish gesture was really a solemn declaration of innocence.^[2][10] Lavaggio was formed on French lavage, and lavaggio del cervello (1953) is a calque of English brainwashing, which may go back to a Chinese model.^[2][3] Recent senses include the slang “to launder” dirty money, and in watercolour painting “to wash” a colour with a wet brush, a sense borrowed by German as lavieren (1808–09).^[4][11]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses lavare.^[8]
• 1281–1288 – Medieval Latin lavandaria “washerwoman” is in Salimbene.^[2]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses lavarsi.^[2]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses lavare “to purify”.^[2]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses lavare “to do the washing”.^[2]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses lavandaia.^[2]
• 1525 – Giorgio Vasari uses lavamano.^[2]
• 1839–1841 – Lavaggio is recorded.^[2]
• 1861 – Lavanderia “laundry” appears.^[2]
• 1926 – Lavatrice “washing machine” is recorded.^[3]
• 1953 – Lavaggio del cervello appears in the press.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To wash: to make clean with water or a detergent: Lava l'insalata prima di condirla.^[4][12][13]
2. To wash a person or a part of the body: lavare i capelli al figlio.^[4][12]
3. (absolute) To do the laundry: Oggi non posso uscire, devo lavare.^[4][13]
4. (figurative) To wipe out a fault or an offence, to purify: lavare i peccati, lavare un'onta, to avenge an insult.^[4][13][10]
5. (slang) To launder money of criminal origin.^[4]
6. (literary) Of a river or the sea, to wash a coast or land.^[4][14]
7. (painting) In watercolour, to dilute and shade a colour with a wet brush.^[4][13]
8. lavarsi: to wash oneself: Mi lavo e arrivo.^[13][10]

Word family

• lavabiancheria
• lavabile
• lavaggio
• lavamano
• lavandaia
• lavandaio
• lavanderia
• lavandino
• lavapiatti
• lavasecco
• lavatrice
• lavatoio
• lavatura
• slavato

Related words

• lavabo
• lavacro
• latrina
• lavanda
• diluvio
• Latin lavo
• Ancient Greek λούω (loúō)

Usage notes

Fixed expressions include lavare il capo a qualcuno, to scold someone severely, lavare la testa all'asino, to waste effort on someone who does not deserve it, lavare a secco, to dry-clean, and the proverb i panni sporchi si lavano in famiglia.^[12][14][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 q 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 d e f 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. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana