marcire

Forms

marcire (first-person singular present marcìsco, first-person singular past historic marcìi, past participle marcìto, auxiliary (intransitive) èssere or (transitive) avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin marceō (“to wither, droop”), which moved from the second to the fourth conjugation;^{[2][3][4][1][5]} Wiktionary gives the Late Latin form as marcīre.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} DELI notes that the verb could also be formed from the adjective marcio “rotten”, but thinks a direct continuation of the Latin verb more likely, since the same change of conjugation happened in other Romance languages.^[2] DEI derives it instead from marcēscere “to wither”, standing for the classical verb.^[6]

The same verb is Old French marcir (also marchir) and Catalan marsir, with Piedmontese marsì in Piedmontese and Lombard.^[3][7][8][9]

Latin marceō goes back to Proto-Italic *markē-, from Proto-Indo-European *mr̥k-eh₁- (“to be soaked, be weak”), and is related to Lithuanian mirkti (“to become soaked”).^[10][3] Devoto calls it a popular root found otherwise only in Baltic, and Sabatini–Coletti and Zingarelli take it as expressive.^[11][12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli dates the verb to before 1332.^[13] DELI's earliest dated sense is figurative: in Boccaccio, in 1348–1353, it means “to languish, waste away, wither”.^[2] The literal sense “to go rotten, fester” is recorded in the late 14th century in the Italian version of Benvenuto da Imola: Esso corpo di Gracco non seppellito marcie (“that body of Gracchus, unburied, rots”).^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

Already in the 14th century the verb was used figuratively for being sunk in what corrupts morally, in the Italian version of Justin.^[2] Boccaccio's use for glory that does not fade keeps the old Latin sense “to wither”.^[14] Later writers used it for rotting seed, grain and timber, and Marino has the proverb that a fish starts to rot from the head.^[9][15]

Today the verb covers organic matter that decays, wounds that fester, wood and paper that rot in the damp, and hemp left to soak; figuratively it means to waste away in idleness, vice or prison.^[16][4][14] The rare transitive use “to make rotten” survives beside it.^[16][13] From the verb came the Lombard marcita, a meadow kept under a thin flow of water so that it yields grass in winter, recorded before 1597.^[2][3]

Timeline

• Before 1332 – Marcire is first recorded.^[13]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for “to languish, waste away”.^[2]
• 14th century – The Italian version of Justin uses it for moral corruption.^[2]
• Late 14th century – The Italian version of Benvenuto da Imola uses it for a body that rots.^[2][9]
• Before 1597 – Marcita, the Lombard water meadow, is recorded.^[2]
• 1597 – Immarcescibile “unfading” is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To rot, decay, go bad: Le pere lasciate in cantina sono marcite.^[16][4][12]
2. (intransitive) To fester, suppurate: La ferita al ginocchio ha cominciato a marcire.^[16][13][14]
3. (intransitive) To become sodden and fall apart through damp, of wood, paper and the like; of hemp, to ret in water.^[16][4][17]
4. (intransitive, figurative) To waste away or degenerate in idleness, vice or misery; to languish for a long time in a place: marcire in una cella.^[16][4][13]
5. (transitive, uncommon) To make rotten: La pioggia continua ha marcito le radici.^[16][4][13]

Word family

• marcito
• marcita
• marcimento
• marcitoio
• marcitura
• ammarcire
• rimarcire

Related words

• marcio
• marciume
• marcescente
• immarcescibile
• Latin marceō

Usage notes

The verb inserts -isc- in the present (marcisco, marcisci) and takes essere when intransitive.^[4][13][1] The present participle marcente is literary.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
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 Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 634
6. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2362
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
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
12. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli