osare

Forms

osare (first-person singular present òso, first-person singular past historic osài, past participle osàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old northern Italian had Old Italian olsare, with a hypercorrect /l/ typical of Lombard and Venetian, and Old Italian alsare only in the Veneto and in Ladin.^[2] Other old forms are Old Italian ossare in the north and Old Italian ausare in the Veneto and the south.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin ausāre (“to dare”), a verb formed on Latin ausus, the past participle of audeō (“to intend; to dare”), or on the noun ausum (“a daring deed”) taken from it.^[4][5][2][1] Wiktionary calls it a frequentative and Devoto–Oli an intensive of the Latin verb.^[1][6]

The verb belongs to western Romance: French oser (from about 1148), Occitan ausar, Catalan gosar, Spanish osar (late 10th century) and Portuguese ousar.^[5][7][2] The /g/ at the start of the Catalan form is unexplained.^[8] The base verb itself left only a rare popular Old Italian odere in the 14th century, beside the learned Old Italian audere (before 1276) and the Tuscan form aldere.^[9]

De Vaan derives the base verb from avidus (“greedy”): it first meant ‘to want very much’, as Plautus's sōdēs (“if you please”), from ⟨sī audēs⟩, still shows, and then ‘to dare’.^[10] Nocentini puts it in the family of avēre (“to desire”), the source of avaro.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The LEI's first record is Giacomo da Lentini, about 1250, with an infinitive: ‘to have the courage or the audacity to do something’;^[2][11] Zingarelli also dates it before 1250.^[2][11] The Venetian Proverbia quae dicuntur super natura feminarum (about 1250) and the Sicilian King Enzo have the form ausar.^[2] DELI's first records are Dante (1300–1313) and P. Martelli (before 1301).^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Dante's Inferno the poet non osava scender de la strada / per andar par di lui (“did not dare go down from the path to walk beside him”).^[12][13] The verb was at first intransitive, with an infinitive; the transitive use with an object, ‘to attempt’, is recorded from the 16th century.^[7] Varchi already wrote osarono di with the preposition.^[12]

Today it is also used to soften a statement (oserei dire ‘I would venture to say’) and in the reproach come osi? ‘how dare you?’.^[14][6][13] The past participle osato is a rare rendering of French osé, which Italian also borrowed as ⟨osé⟩;^[13][2] Giovio's a osadas ‘certainly’ is a Spanish loan.^[13][2] Tommaseo noted that ardire says more than osare.^[12][13]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses osare.^[2]
• Before 1301 – P. Martelli uses it.^[4]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses it.^[4]
• 16th century – The transitive use with an object is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To dare, to have the courage to do something bold (with an infinitive, sometimes with di): Nessuno osava contraddirlo in pubblico.^[14][6][13]
2. To have the impudence to do something improper: come osi?.^[14][6][11]
3. To venture, to allow oneself to say or do something, to soften a statement: oserei dire.^[14][6][13]
4. (transitive) To attempt, to risk: osare il tutto per tutto.^[14][11][13]

Word family

• osato
• osabile

Related words

• audace
• audacia
• auso
• oso
• Latin audeō
• French oser

Usage notes

Osare is less literary than its synonym ardire.^[13][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 2531
3. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12
4. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2688
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 2254
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 Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET