nutrire

Forms

nutrire (first-person singular present nùtro or (less common) nutrìsco, first-person singular past historic nutrìi, past participle nutrìto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old and literary forms are nudrire, nodrire and notrire.^[1][2]

Etymology

DELI and Nocentini count it a learned word: it is borrowed from Latin nūtriō (“to suckle, feed; to bring up”), whose present participle, past participle and derivatives gave nutriente, nutrito, nutrice, nutrimento and nutrizione.^[3][4][5] Wiktionary treats it as inherited.^[1] DEI notes that the Latin verb had a long vowel, while the Romance forms point to a short one, as in Old Italian nodrire, French nourrir and Occitan noirir; the standard form does not conflict with them.^[6] The forms with ⟨nudr-⟩ and ⟨nodr-⟩ came from the north, through the voicing of /t/ in the northern dialects.^[6][7] The form with ⟨o⟩ appears in a Lombard text of 741.^[6][7] The popular outcome is Sardinian nudrire, Friulian nudrî and Catalan nodrir, while Spanish nutrir and Portuguese nutrir are learned.^[8][4]

The Latin verb was derived from the noun nūtrīx (“nurse, wet nurse”) before that noun took its suffix ⟨-k-⟩.^[9] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *sneu-tr-ih₂- (“female nurser”), from the root *sneu- (“to suckle”), which Nocentini finds in a Sanskrit verb for milk trickling from the mother.^[9][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini dates the verb to the early 13th century, and Zingarelli to 1268.^[4][10] DELI's first records are nodrire and nudrire in the Novellino (late 13th century), meaning to give food so as to keep alive and make grow, and nutrire in Jacopone da Todi's Laudi (before 1306).^[3]

Semantic evolution

From feeding the verb soon extended to bringing up and educating (Dante), to keeping alive or fomenting a feeling (Boccaccio, 14th century) and to promoting something (16th century).^[6] Petrarch's sonnet opens with the sighs “ond'io nudriva il core” (with which I fed my heart), and his nudrito meant raised: “Ove nudrito fui sì dolcemente” (where I was so sweetly reared).^[5][11] The northern forms nudrire and nodrire survive only in literary use.^[11][2]

In modern Italian the commonest figurative use is to harbour a feeling, nutrire una speranza or nutrire rancore, and the reflexive nutrirsi means to feed or live on something.^[5][10][12] The derivatives multiplied: nutrimento and nutritivo (Crescenzi, about 1350), nutrizione (before 1565, Varchi), and nutrizionista (1963).^[3]

Timeline

• 741 – Nodrire is recorded in a Lombard text.^[6]
• Early 13th century – Nocentini's date for the verb.^[4]
• 1268 – Zingarelli's date for the verb.^[10]
• Late 13th century – Nodrire and nudrire appear in the Novellino.^[3]
• Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses nutrire.^[3]
• About 1350 – Nutrimento and nutritivo appear in the Italian Crescenzi.^[3]
• Before 1565 – Benedetto Varchi uses nutrizione.^[3]
• 1963 – Nutrizionista is recorded.^[3][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To feed, to nourish: to give a living being the food it needs to live and grow: Nutre i suoi gatti solo con crocchette.^[5][11][12]
2. (intransitive, of food) To be nourishing: La frutta secca nutre molto.^[5][11][10]
3. To breastfeed;^[5][11][10] (literary) to bring up, rear, educate.^[5][11][10]
4. To provide a living for: Con quello stipendio deve nutrire quattro figli.^[5][10][13]
5. To nourish the skin, of a cosmetic.^[11][10]
6. (figurative) To enrich the mind or spirit: nutrire la mente con la lettura.^[5][11][12]
7. (figurative) To harbour or cherish a feeling: nutrire dubbi, nutrire stima per qualcuno.^[5][7][12]
8. (figurative) To feed a fire; to foment gossip or discord.^[5][10][1]
9. (reflexive) nutrirsi: to eat, to feed on something, also figuratively: Questi uccelli si nutrono di semi.^[11][7][12]

Word family

• nutrimento
• nutriente
• nutrito
• nutritivo
• nutrizione
• nutrizionale
• nutrizionista
• nutritore
• denutrito
• nutrirsi

Related words

• nutrice
• nutricare
• Latin nūtrīx

Usage notes

The present is nutro, nutri or, less commonly, nutrisco, nutrisci.^[11][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2613
7. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli