osservare

Forms

osservare (first-person singular present ossèrvo, first-person singular past historic osservài, past participle osservàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin observāre (“to watch; to comply with”), from servō (“to keep, watch over”) with the prefix ob- (“towards”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Latin verb had two meanings, “to pay attention” and “to fulfil”, and Italian kept both.^[2] The same learned word is French observer and Spanish observar.^[3] DELI calls the origin of servō obscure;^[2][3][1] Nocentini refers it to Italian serbare, which is the inherited descendant of the Latin verb.^[2][3][1]

Sardinian servare (“to lie in wait”) is the only popular Romance outcome Meyer-Lübke lists.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the statute (breve) of Montieri of 1219, where osservare means to keep and fulfil an obligation, beside the Latin-looking observare et adimpiere.^[2][4] The sense “to look at or examine carefully” is first found in Bono Giamboni before 1292.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The religious sense, to keep a rule or a feast, gave osservanza (14th century) and the frati osservanti, the Franciscans of the strict observance (before 1421).^[2][4] The verb's scientific use grew with osservatore and osservatorio, the place for observing (16th century), and Galileo's osservabile (before 1642).^[2][3]

The sense “to remark, object” is a 19th-century development: in 1855 Ugolini noted Vi fo osservare che… as current usage, though DELI also quotes a purist objection to such phrases.^[2] The osservatore sent to a conference without voting rights dates from 1958.^[2]

Timeline

• 1219 – the statute of Montieri uses osservare for keeping an obligation.^[2][4]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for “to examine carefully”.^[2]
• 14th century – osservanza and osservazione appear.^[2][3]
• Before 1642 – Galileo uses osservabile.^[2]
• 1855 – the sense “to remark, object” is noted as current usage.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To look at carefully, to observe, examine or study: Il ragazzo osservava le stelle con il telescopio.^[4][7][8]
2. (transitive) To notice, point out: Il professore osservò che mancava una pagina.^[4][7][8]
3. (transitive) To object: Sul suo piano non ho nulla da osservare.^[4][7][8]
4. (transitive) To keep, comply with a law, rule or promise: osservare il regolamento.^[4][7][8]
5. (transitive) To keep a day according to religious precepts: osservare il sabato.^[4]
6. (pronominal, osservarsi) To look at oneself; reciprocal, to look at each other: Si osservavano in silenzio.^[7][8]

Word family

• osservazione
• osservatore
• osservatorio
• osservanza
• osservante
• osservabile

Related words

• serbare
• conservare
• Latin observō

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 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 e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse