Etymologically
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nascondere

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Pronunciation

  • /nasˈkon.de.re/[1]

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
  • 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