litigare

Forms

litigare (first-person singular present lìtigo, first-person singular past historic litigài, past participle litigàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] The Tuscan form is leticare, and liticare is less common.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin lītigāre (“to quarrel; to go to law”), a legal term formed from līs (“lawsuit; dispute”).^[5][2][6] The Latin verb is formed like iurgō (“to quarrel”) from iūs (“law”) and rēmigō (“to row”), which Devoto explains as old compounds with agō (“to drive, do”).^[7][8] The inherited outcomes of the verb are Spanish lidiar and Portuguese lidar.^[2][9][1]

The Tuscan leticare has a hypercorrect /k/, as if the /g/ were a northern softening of /k/, the way faticare stands beside northern forms.^[2][4] Old Latin had stlīs (“lawsuit”) beside the usual form, and de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *slīti- (“accusation, dispute”), perhaps from a root Proto-Indo-European *sliH- shared with Celtic words for accusing.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Brunetto Latini, before 1294, in the sense “to be party to a lawsuit”;^[5][6][11] Zingarelli gives 1268.^[5][6][11] The sense “to quarrel with harsh words” is in Dante's Convivio (1304–1308).^[5]

Semantic evolution

Domenico Cavalca's advice not to quarrel with a quarrelsome man is echoed in Tuscan proverbs such as il diavolo non litiga mai solo, “the devil never quarrels alone”.^[12][13] Litigante, “party to a dispute”, is in the 14th-century Ottimo commentary on Dante, litigio in Dante, and litigioso in the first half of the 14th century.^[5][2]

The reflexive litigarsi qualcosa, “to fight over something”, is recorded by Tommaseo in 1869, and Belli's Roman liticasse dates from 1833.^[5] Manzoni used the verb jokingly for fingers fumbling with buttons.^[3] The noun litigata, “a quarrel”, is from 1932.^[2] In modern Italian litigare is the everyday word for quarrelling and also for falling out and ending a friendship or a relationship, while the legal sense has become uncommon.^[6][3][4]

Timeline

• 1268 – Zingarelli's date for the verb.^[11]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses litigare “to go to law”.^[5][6]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses it for “to quarrel”.^[5]
• 14th century – Litigante is recorded in the Ottimo commentary.^[5]
• 1833 – Belli has Roman liticasse “to fight over”.^[5]
• 1869 – Tommaseo records litigarsi “to dispute something”.^[5]
• 1932 – Litigata is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To quarrel, argue violently, often with insults: I due fratelli litigano per ogni sciocchezza.^[6][3][4]
2. To fall out, break off a friendship or relationship: Hanno litigato e non si parlano da mesi.^[6][3][11]
3. (law, uncommon) To be in litigation: Litigano da anni per la casa dei nonni.^[6][3][4]
4. (transitive, also litigarsi) To compete for, fight over something: litigarsi l'ultimo posto libero.^[3][4][14]
5. (figurative, jocular) To fumble clumsily with something.^[3]

Word family

• litigante
• litigata
• litigio
• litigioso
• litighino
• litigone

Related words

• lite
• Latin lis

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. 2251
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ 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. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana