opporre

Forms

opporre (first-person singular present oppóngo, first-person singular past historic oppósi, past participle oppósto or oppòsto, first-person singular imperfect opponévo, auxiliary avére)^[1] The older form is Old Italian opponere, with dialect opónere and an Umbrian oppónare.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin oppōnō (“to put in front, set against”), formed from pōnō (“to put, place”) with the prefix ob- (“against”).^[5][6][7][1] The Latin infinitive gave Old Italian opponere, which was remade after porre.^[3][8][9] Latin pōnō goes back to a compound of po- and sinō (“to let, leave”).^[10]

The present participle opponentem gave opponente, and opposizione and oppositore are built on the learned participle opposito, from oppositus; the popular participle opposto reflects the shortened Latin form oppostum.^[5][6] The same Latin verb gave Spanish oponer, while French opposer is formed from poser.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Bono Giamboni, who died in 1292, who uses opporre for setting up something as an obstacle: Roman defenders oppongono long beams against a siege tower.^[5][2] In the Novellino, at the end of the 13th century, envoys come to Socrates per opporre le loro ragioni, to put forward their arguments against him.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the verb both of setting physical things against something and of bringing arguments against a claim;^[5][4] Boccaccio writes that some presume d'opporre il senno loro against the nature of things.^[5][4] The reflexive opporsi “to oppose, resist” is dated by DELI to Paolo Sarpi (1605–1607), though Tommaseo cites Dante's chi a lui s'oppone and Boccaccio's la fortuna... s'oppose.^[5][4] The rarer sense “to stand opposite” appears in 1567, and is still used of the thumb, which can be opposed to the other fingers.^[5][11]

The derivatives followed the political and legal vocabulary: opposizione meant a legal objection by 1298–1309 and the parliamentary minority opposed to the government by 1773.^[5] In courtrooms mi oppongo! is the formula for raising an objection.^[12]

Timeline

• 1282 – Opposizione is used in astronomy by Restoro d'Arezzo.^[5]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses opporre for raising an obstacle.^[5]
• End of the 13th century – The Novellino uses it for bringing arguments against.^[5]
• Before 1327 – Cecco d'Ascoli uses opposto “contrary”.^[5]
• 1567 – Pietro Cattaneo uses opporsi “to stand opposite”.^[5]
• 1605–1607 – Paolo Sarpi uses opporsi “to oppose”.^[5]
• 1773 – Opposizione is used of the parliamentary minority.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To set something against something else as an obstacle or defence: opporre una diga alla piena.^[7][3][11]
2. (figurative, transitive) To put forward against someone, to counter with: opporre un rifiuto.^[7][3][13]
3. (figurative, transitive) To object, to reply in contradiction: non c'è niente da opporre.^[7][3][12]
4. (opporsi) To oppose, to resist or act against: opporsi a una legge.^[3][11][12]
5. (opporsi, law) To lodge an objection or opposition.^[3][12]
6. (opporsi, rare) To stand opposite something, as the thumb to the other fingers.^[11][13][14]

Word family

• opporsi
• opposto
• opposizione
• oppositore
• opponente
• opponibile
• oppositivo

Related words

• porre
• contrapporre
• Latin oppōnō

Usage notes

Opporre is conjugated like porre (oppongo, opposi, opposto).^[1][3][11] Mi oppongo! is the formula of an objection in a trial.^[12][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli