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parare

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word parare

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1294 before 1294, Brunetto Latini More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Latin paro
Ultimate origin
Latin parō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin parō
Italian parare
French parade
English parade
Spanish parar
English pare
From the same root
Latin apparō ← parō
Latin disparō ← parō
Latin imperō ← parō
Latin parābilis ← parō
Latin parātus ← parō
Latin praeparō ← parō
Latin reparō ← parō
Latin sēparō ← parō
Spanish parada ← parō

Pronunciation

Forms

parare (first-person singular present pàro, first-person singular past historic parài, past participle paràto, auxiliary avére)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin parō (“to prepare, furnish; to procure”).[2][3][4][5][1] The word is panromance: French parer, Occitan parar, Catalan parar, Spanish parar, Portuguese parar, Sardinian parare.[3][6]

In the Romance languages the verb went two ways: towards “to adorn”, as in Italian paramento, and towards “to put an obstacle in the way, stop”, as in paratoia.[3] Meyer-Lübke thought the sense “to ward off” came from the language of fencing.[6] As a fencing term, for parrying a blow, it passed into French in the 16th century, in Rabelais.[7] Old Neapolitan had parare (“to learn”).[7][6]

Nocentini takes the Latin verb as the durative of pariō (“to give birth”), whose first meaning was “to procure”.[3] De Vaan notes that it is mostly explained as a verb formed on a Proto-Indo-European noun meaning “providing”.[8] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to produce, procure”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Brunetto Latini, before 1294, with the reflexive pararsi “to defend oneself, shield oneself”.[2][9][4] The sense “to dress in vestments” may appear in the 13th century, in fra Galgano, and is sure in Cavalca before 1342.[2]

Semantic evolution

G. Villani, before 1348, used the verb for hanging a church or house with ornaments, and M. Villani, before 1363, for warding off a blow.[2] Boccaccio used the reflexive for “to appear before, stand in someone's way” (1353), and he also used it for “to prepare”, the Latin sense.[2][10] The intransitive andare a parare “to end up, aim at” is recorded from Caro, before 1566.[2][4]

From the 15th century para! was a cry to stop a fleeing person or animal, and in horsemanship parare meant to stop a horse;[9] French borrowed this sense in 1575.[9] Bardi, before 1612, used it for making a save in ball games.[2][9] German has parieren from 1443, at first in fencing.[9]

Many compounds with para- name protective devices: parabrezza, paracadute, parafulmine, parasole.[10]

Timeline

  • Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses pararsi “to defend oneself”.[2][9]
  • Before 1342 – Cavalca uses pararsi for putting on vestments.[2]
  • Before 1348 – G. Villani uses parare “to adorn with hangings”.[2]
  • 1353 – Boccaccio uses pararsi “to stand in someone's way”.[2]
  • Before 1363 – M. Villani uses it for warding off a blow.[2]
  • 1443 – German parieren is recorded.[9]
  • Before 1566 – Caro has the intransitive sense “to end up, aim at”.[2]
  • 1575 – French parer “to stop a horse” is recorded.[9]
  • Before 1612 – Bardi uses it for making a save.[2][9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To adorn with hangings or vestments; to decorate richly: parare la sala per la festa.[4][1]
  2. (literary) To prepare.[4][1]
  3. To protect, shield: parare il viso dal vento.[4][5][1]
  4. To block or stop by putting something in the way: parare l'acqua con un telo.[4][1]
  5. To ward off, parry a blow or an attack; also figuratively, of criticism.[4][5][1]
  6. (sports) In fencing and boxing, to parry; in football and other team games, of a goalkeeper, to save a shot: il portiere ha parato tutto.[4][5][1]
  7. (nautical) To spread the sails.[4]
  8. To stop a person or animal.[4][9]
  9. (intransitive) In andare a parare, to end up, aim at: dove andrà a parare questo discorso?.[4][2][1]

Word family

  • parata
  • parato
  • paramento
  • paratoia
  • parabile
  • parabrezza
  • paracadute
  • parafango
  • parafulmine
  • paralume
  • paraocchi
  • parapetto
  • parasole
  • paravento

Usage notes

Parare il colpo means to parry a blow and, figuratively, to cope with a difficult situation.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 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 l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2770
  8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  10. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 741

Related etymologies

  • no · also from Latin
  • cosa · also from Latin
  • a · also from Latin
  • mio · also from Latin
  • uno · also from Latin
  • si · also from Latin
  • sapere · also from Latin
  • fare · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Parare.” Etymologically, 10 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/it/parare. Accessed 10 Nov. 2026.

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