ledere

Forms

ledere (first-person singular present lèdo, first-person singular past historic lési, past participle léso, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin laedō (“to strike, wound, hurt”), a verb used of physical and moral harm alike.^[2][3][4] Wiktionary notes that the verb also turns up in Old Romanesco, once with a diphthong as liedere, so it may not be purely learned.^[1]

The origin of the Latin verb is unknown.^[2][3][5] De Vaan finds no certain cognates: a link with Ancient Greek λίστρον (lístron, “spade, shovel”) is very doubtful, and the Baltic words once compared have been explained differently.^[6] Its compounds include Latin ēlīdō (“to crush, force out”) and Latin illīdō (“to strike against”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first records are in Onesto da Bologna, who died before 1303, and in the Italian translation of Albertano da Brescia of about 1300, with the senses “to damage, prejudice, offend”.^[2] The Albertano translation warns the reader not to offend God and che non ledi tua coscienza, “that you do not wound your conscience”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also had a form ledire and a participle ledito, both of the 14th century.^[8] The physical sense, “to wound, injure”, appears in Boccaccio's verse on the snake whose tooth pria lede altrui con picciola morsura, “first wounds with a small bite”.^[9] Tommaseo records an old intransitive use, ledere ad alcuno, “to do someone harm”, and a reflexive “to hurt oneself”.^[7]

Today the verb belongs to formal, legal and medical language: one harms someone's rights, honour or reputation, and a bullet or a disease damages an organ.^[4][10][11] The GDLI marks the physical sense old and literary, but the modern dictionaries give it first.^[9][4][12]

Timeline

• Before 1303 – Onesto da Bologna uses the verb.^[2][3][4]
• c. 1300 – It appears in the Italian translation of Albertano da Brescia.^[2]
• 14th century – The variant ledire and the participle ledito are recorded.^[8]
• 19th century – The present participle ledente is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To injure, cause a lesion to an organ, tissue or structure.^{[4][10][12][11]}
2. (figurative) To harm or prejudice morally or legally: ledere la dignità di qualcuno.^{[4][10][12][11][5]}
3. To infringe, break a law or an agreement.^[5][1]

Word family

• lesione
• lesivo
• leso

Related words

• illeso
• Latin laedō

Usage notes

The verb is irregular: the past historic is lesi, ledesti and the past participle leso, which is also used as an adjective.^[10][12][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2192
9. ^ 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, 880
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse