nevare

Forms

nevare (impersonal, third-person singular present néva, third-person singular past historic nevò, past participle nevàto, auxiliary èssere or avére)^[1]

Etymology

For Wiktionary and GRADIT it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *nivāre, a verb formed on the stem of Latin nix (“snow”).^[1][2] DEI calls the Latin verb a side form of an older verb for “to snow” used by Pacuvio.^[3] Körting notes that written Latin records only the participle nivātus.^[4] Devoto–Oli, Sabatini, Zingarelli and Treccani derive it in Italian from neve.^[5][6][7][8]

The same verb is Sardinian niare, Occitan nevar, Catalan nevar, Spanish nevar and Portuguese nevar.^[3][9] French neiger goes back to a form with another suffix, and the usual Italian nevicare to *nivicāre.^[4][9][10]

The Latin noun comes from Proto-Italic *sniks and Proto-Indo-European *snígʷʰs (“snow”), and is related to Ancient Greek νίψ (níps) and to Old English snāw.^[1] Nocentini also compares Old High German sneō and Lithuanian sniẽgas.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the first record to 1304–08, in Dante: Nevato è sì, che tutto cuopre la neve (“it has snowed so much that the snow covers everything”).^[2][11] Zingarelli gives 1308.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Petrarch used the verb allegorically: Già su per l'Alpi neva d'ogn'intorno (“already on the Alps it snows all around”).^[2][11] Alamanni's poem on farming still has quando più neva.^[11] DEI records nevata in Vasari and an adjective nevato in Redi.^[3]

Already Tommaseo called the verb uncommon, and today the dictionaries mark it archaic, literary or regional: the usual verb is nevicare.^{[11][2][5][6][4]} The noun nevato “field of old snow” is a separate borrowing of French névé (1867).^[12]

Timeline

• 1304–1308 – Dante uses nevare.^[2]
• 1867 – The unrelated noun nevato is borrowed from French.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (impersonal, archaic, literary or regional) To snow; nevicare: Stanotte è nevato fino in pianura.^{[2][5][6][8][1]}

Word family

• nevata
• nevato

Related words

• neve
• nevicare
• Latin nix

Usage notes

The verb takes essere, and Wiktionary also allows avere.^[5][6][8][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2580
4. ^ a b c Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
5. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli