ondeggiare

Forms

ondeggiare (first-person singular present ondéggio, first-person singular past historic ondeggiài, past participle ondeggiàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian onda + -eggiare, “wave”, with the suffix of frequentative verbs.^[2][3][4][5] The noun is from Latin unda, which first meant “water”.^[6][7] Wiktionary derives the verb instead from a Vulgar Latin *undizāre, and Körting from *undidiare, which he takes as the source of Old Occitan ondejar, Catalan ondejar, Spanish ondear and Portuguese ondear too.^[1][8] The GDLI compares French ondoyer, recorded as Old French ondoier in 1160.^[5] The DEI compares Latin undō (“to surge”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is Andrea Lancia's translation of the Aeneid, Florentine, of 1316, where it is said of a liquid moving in waves.^[4][10] Dante had already used the infinitive as a noun in the Paradiso: Cotal fu l'ondeggiar del santo rio (“such was the rippling of the holy stream”).^[6][11]

Semantic evolution

Zanobi da Strada's translation of Gregory the Great has Come acque che ondeggiano, così è il grido mio (“as waters that surge, so is my cry”).^[5][11] Old texts used it also of flames and smoke, of a person moving with a sinuous motion, and figuratively of a heart shaken by feeling.^[4]

Boccaccio used it of things that move like waves, Lancia of a mind that cannot decide, and Poliziano of crops: E le biade ondeggiar come fa il mare (“and the corn wave as the sea does”); Poliziano also used it for “to sway, totter”.^[6][12] Ariosto applied it to a crowd and to blood flowing over the fields like a river.^[12][11] The sense of a boat rocking on the waves is recorded from 1589.^[6]

Timeline

• 1316 – Andrea Lancia's translation of the Aeneid has the verb.^[4][10]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses l'ondeggiar as a noun.^[6]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it of things that move like waves.^[6][2]
• About 1356 – Lancia uses it for being undecided.^[6]
• Before 1364 – Zanobi da Strada uses it of moving water.^[6]
• Before 1494 – Poliziano uses it for “to sway, waver”.^[6]
• 1589 – B. Rosso uses it for following the movement of the waves.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. Of the sea or another liquid, to move in waves, ripple.^[2][13][12]
2. To rock with the waves: Le barche dei pescatori ondeggiavano nel porto.^[2][14][13]
3. To sway or wave to and fro, rising and falling: Il grano ondeggiava sotto il vento.^[2][14][3]
4. Of a crowd, to surge and heave.^[2][14][3]
5. Of a person, to stagger; also to sway one's hips.^[2][14][3]
6. (uncommon) To undulate, rise and fall in a landscape, mostly as a noun: l'ondeggiare dei colli.^[2][14]
7. (figurative) To waver, hesitate (tra two choices).^{[2][14][3][13]}

Word family

• ondeggiamento
• ondeggiante
• ondeggiatura
• ondeggio

Related words

• onda
• ondoso
• Latin unda

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2653
10. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier