misurare

Forms

misurare (first-person singular present misùro, first-person singular past historic misurài, past participle misuràto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin mēnsūrāre (“to measure”), formed on Latin mēnsūra (“measure, size”).^[2][3][4][1] The noun comes from mēnsus (“measured”), the past participle of mētior (“to measure”); the derived verb joined it in the 4th and 5th centuries, in Vegetius.^[2] Tommaseo notes it in the Vulgate as well.^[5] Devoto sees the Italian form as the Late Latin verb crossed with misura.^[6] The older Italian form is Old Italian mesurare.^[7][8][9]

The verb is pan-Romance: French mesurer, Occitan mesurar, Catalan mesurar, Spanish mesurar, Portuguese mesurar, Sardinian mesurare and Romanian măsura.^[3][10]

That verb is formed on a noun Proto-Italic *mētis (“measurement”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”), which also gave Ancient Greek μῆτις (mêtis, “wisdom, skill”).^[11][3] The ⟨n⟩ of the participle is not original: it was taken over from pēnsus (“weighed”), the participle of pendō (“to weigh”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the 13th century, in Ugieri Apugliese, in the sense “to measure, find the size of something against a unit”: Misuro terra e faccio scale (“I measure land and make ladders”).^[2][12] Zingarelli dates the word to about 1261.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “to judge, assess” is in Dante, 1304–1308.^[2] A sense of moderation came with it from Late Latin mēnsūra, which Palladius already used for “moderation”.^[14] Petrarch's Solo e pensoso i più deserti campi / vo mesurando a passi tardi e lenti (“alone and thoughtful I go pacing the most deserted fields with slow, heavy steps”) shows the sense “to pace, walk over”.^[9] Misurare le parole, “to weigh one's words”, is recorded before 1498 in Vespasiano da Bisticci (quelle che diceva le misurava molto bene, “those he said, he measured very well”).^[2]

The reflexive misurarsi “to contend” appears before 1421 in Gino di Neri Capponi; in the 19th century purists condemned it as a needless Gallicism, and Battisti and Alessio take the sense “to test oneself” of 1855 from French se mesurer.^[2][14] Later senses are misurare a occhio, “to estimate roughly”, before 1556 in Giovanni Della Casa;^[2] “to try on a garment”, 1864 in Tarchetti; the intransitive “to measure (so much)”, 1869 in Tommaseo–Bellini; and misurare la strada, “to walk it with even steps”, 1891 in Petrocchi.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1261 – Misurare is first recorded.^[13]
• 13th century – Ugieri Apugliese uses it for measuring land.^[2][12]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses it figuratively, “to judge”.^[2]
• Before 1421 – Gino di Neri Capponi uses misurarsi “to contend”.^[2]
• Before 1498 – Vespasiano da Bisticci has misurare le parole.^[2]
• Before 1556 – Della Casa has misurare ad occhio.^[2]
• 1864 – Tarchetti uses it for trying on clothes.^[2]
• 1869 – Tommaseo–Bellini record the intransitive “to measure (so much)”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To measure: to find the size, amount or degree of something with an instrument and against a unit: Il geometra ha misurato il cortile con la rotella metrica.^[4][7][8][1]
2. (transitive) To pace up and down a place, often in thought or agitation: misurare il corridoio.^[4][7][13]
3. (transitive) To try on a garment, or have someone try it on, to check the fit.^[4][7][8][1]
4. (transitive, figurative) To assess, judge or weigh: to consider difficulties, chances or someone's worth.^{[4][8][13][1]}
5. (transitive) To keep within limits, to ration: misurare i consumi;^[4][8][13] misurare le parole, to weigh one's words.^[4][8][13]
6. (transitive) To deal a blow, a slap or a kick, as if taking aim.^[4][7][4][7]
7. (intransitive) To measure, to be of a given size: Il ponte misura quasi duecento metri.^[4][13][1]
8. (reflexive, misurarsi) To compete or contend with someone; to take on a task; also to hold back, to be moderate.^[13][8]

Word family

• misuratore
• misurazione
• misurino
• misurabile
• misurabilità
• immensurabile
• commensurare
• commensurabile
• incommensurabile
• commisurare
• commisurazione
• misurato
• rimisurare

Related words

• misurarsi
• misuratezza
• Latin mensura
• Latin metior

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 10, 594
13. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2478