Etymologically
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offrire

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Pronunciation

  • /ofˈfri.re/[1]

Forms

offrire (first-person singular present òffro, first-person singular past historic offrìi or (less common) offèrsi, past participle offèrto, auxiliary avére)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *offerīre, a reshaping of Latin offerō (“to put in someone's way; to offer”) on the model of verbs in ⟨-īre⟩.[2][3][4][1] The classical verb has an irregular infinitive, and moving it to the fourth conjugation gave it a regular form.[1][2] It is a compound of ob-, here with an intensive sense, and ferō (“to carry, bring”).[2][3][5] The same verb is French offrir and Sardinian offerrere;[3][6] the derivative Spanish ofrecer is used in its place.[3][6]

The present participle gave offerente, and the past participle offerto, whose feminine offerta (“the thing offered”) is already recorded at Lucca in 892.[2] Latin ferō goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to carry”), the root of Ancient Greek φέρω (phérō) and Sanskrit भरति (bhárati).[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the form offeriri in the Elegia giudeo-italiana, a poem of the 12th or 13th century.[2] DELI's first record of offrire is in Dante's Commedia (1313–1319), for putting something useful or welcome at someone's disposal.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Old and literary Italian also had the longer forms offerire and offerere, with presents such as offero and offerisco and the participle offerito.[5][8][9] The reflexive offrirsi “to declare oneself ready” is recorded in the 13th century, in Chiaro Davanzati, and offrirsi “to present itself” in Petrarch (1374).[2] The sense “to give, make a present of” is in a 14th-century translation of the Golden Legend.[2]

The Church made great use of the verb and its derivatives; the offertorio of the Mass comes from Late Latin offertorium.[2] Commercial senses came later: to put up for sale is recorded in Annibal Caro (1565) and a price bid at auction in a Tuscan proclamation of 1585.[2] In modern use offrire is also the ordinary way to say that one is paying for someone, as in offro io.[4][10]

Timeline

  • 892 – The noun offerta is recorded at Lucca.[2]
  • 12th–13th century – Offeriri appears in the Elegia giudeo-italiana.[2]
  • 13th century – Chiaro Davanzati uses the reflexive offrirsi.[2]
  • 1313–1319 – Dante uses offrire.[2]
  • 1374 – Petrarch uses offrirsi for “to present itself”.[2]
  • 1565 – Annibal Caro uses the verb for “to offer for sale”.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To offer, to put at someone's disposal something one thinks useful or welcome: Ci hanno offerto un posto per dormire.[4][8][10][11]
  2. To propose: Le hanno offerto un contratto a tempo indeterminato.[4][8]
  3. To treat, to pay for someone: Questa volta offro io.[4][8][10]
  4. To give as a present: I colleghi gli hanno offerto una cena d'addio.[4][12]
  5. To provide, to afford: Il nuovo quartiere offre molti servizi.[4][8][11]
  6. To hold out, to expose: offrire il fianco, to lay oneself open to attack or criticism.[4][13][11]
  7. To put up for sale; to bid a price: Quanto offrite per il quadro?[4][10][11]
  8. To dedicate or sacrifice to a god: offrire un agnello agli dèi.[4][10][11]
  9. offrirsi: to volunteer, to declare oneself ready: Si è offerto di accompagnarmi alla stazione.[11][10]

Word family

  • offerta
  • offerto
  • offerente
  • offertorio
  • rioffrire

Usage notes

The past historic is offrii or, less commonly, offersi; the past participle is offerto.[8][10][1] Offerire survives as a literary variant.[8][10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 d 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 k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ 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, 834
  6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  11. ^ a b c d e f Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  13. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli