nascondere

Forms

nascondere (first-person singular present nascóndo, first-person singular past historic nascósi, past participle nascósto, auxiliary avére)^[1] The older verb is Old Italian ascondere, with Sienese niscondere.^[2][3] The past participle is nascosto; literary nascoso is older.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin inabscondere, a compound of in- and Latin abscondō (“to put away, conceal”), with the loss of the first vowel.^[6][4][5][1] DELI and Nocentini describe it instead as the older Old Italian ascondere (late 12th century) with the prefix ⟨in-⟩ added, whose ⟨i-⟩ was then lost.^[7][2] The LEI speaks of the partial fusion of the prefix with the verb, and Meyer-Lübke explains the ⟨n⟩ by the preposition ⟨in⟩.^[8][9]

Latin abscondō is made of abs- (“away”) and condō (“to put away, store”), which Devoto derives from com- and the root of Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put”).^[2][10] It is pan-Romance: Romanian ascunde, Dalmatian ascóndro, Old French escondre, Old Occitan escondre, Catalan escondir, Spanish esconder and Portuguese esconder.^[2][9][8] Northern Italy says ⟨sconder⟩, from ⟨ascondere⟩ without its first vowel, while Tuscany also uses rimpiattare and Calabria and Sicily a verb from Vulgar Latin *mucciare.^[8][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the Sicilian School poet Inghilfredi, in the 13th century, in the sense “to put something where it cannot be seen”.^[7] The reflexive nascondersi “to hide oneself” is in the Novellino, at the end of the 13th century, and the participle nascosto in Bono Giamboni, before 1292.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Dante, before 1321, used the verb for blocking something from view and for keeping something to oneself, not revealing it.^[7] In Inferno 22 the sinners show their backs to ease the pain and hide them again “in men che non balena” (quicker than lightning).^[11] Petrarch has Laura showing only her shadow or her veil, “ma 'l viso nascondendo” (but hiding her face).^[11]

The noun nascondiglio “hiding place” is recorded in Zanobi da Strada, before 1364, and the children's game nascondino in the Crusca dictionary of 1923;^[7][3] DEI calls the game name purely Tuscan, beside rimpiattino and other names.^[7][3] Tommaseo records the saying gettare il sasso e nascondere la mano, of someone who does harm and hides his part in it, and the proverb that the Devil teaches how to steal but not how to hide.^[12]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – The older ascondere is recorded.^[2]
• 13th century – Inghilfredi uses nascondere.^[7]
• End of the 13th century – The reflexive in the Novellino.^[7]
• Before 1292 – Nascosto in Bono Giamboni.^[7]
• Before 1364 – Zanobi da Strada uses nascondiglio.^[7]
• 1923 – Nascondino enters the Crusca dictionary.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hide, put something where others will not see or find it: Ha nascosto le chiavi sotto un vaso.^[6][4][5][1]
2. To keep a person hidden: La famiglia nascose il fuggiasco in cantina.^[6][4][5]
3. To block from view: Gli alberi nascondono la casa.^[6][5][13]
4. (figurative) To conceal feelings or thoughts: Non riusciva a nascondere la delusione.^[6][5][14]
5. To keep secret, hush up: Ci ha nascosto la notizia per settimane., non avere niente da nascondere, to have nothing to hide.^[6][4][13]
6. (nascondersi) To hide oneself: Il gatto si è nascosto sotto il divano.^[5][14][13]

Word family

• nascosto
• nascondiglio
• nascondino
• nascondimento
• nasconditore
• nascondello

Related words

• ascondere
• nasconderella
• ascoso
• rimpiattare
• Latin abscondo
• Spanish esconder

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2549
4. ^ a b c d e 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 c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 144
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 292
11. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 11
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli