parere

Forms

parere (first-person singular present pàio, first-person singular past historic pàrvi, past participle pàrso, first-person singular future parrò, no imperative, auxiliary èssere)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian parire, first-person paro and third-person plural pàrono.^[2][1][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pārēre (“to appear, be visible”).^[4][5][6][1] The common Latin sense “to obey” did not survive in Romance.^[7][8] The same verb is Old French paroir, Occitan parer, Sardinian pàrrere and Romanian părea.^[5][9] French paraître, Spanish parecer and Portuguese parecer come instead from the inchoative Late Latin parēscere, which DÉRom finds alone in most of the Iberian Peninsula.^[5][10]

The noun “opinion” is the infinitive used as a noun, from phrases meaning “as it seems to me”.^[5][6][11]

The further origin of the Latin verb is uncertain.^[4][5] De Vaan tentatively derives it from Proto-Italic *pās-ē- and Proto-Indo-European *peh₂-s- (“to watch, see”), comparing Albanian pashë (“I saw”), and perhaps relates it to pār (“equal”).^[8][1] DEI compared Ancient Greek πεπαρεῖν (pepareîn, “to show”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in Pier della Vigna, before 1249, meaning “to appear, seem”.^[4][6] The noun is in Rugieri d'Amici, of the first half of the 13th century, as al meo parire (“in my opinion”), and in Brunetto Latini before 1294.^[4][12]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the verb for “to appear, show oneself”, as in Dante's perché la vergogna d’entro non paresse di fuori (“so that the shame within should not show outside”).^[13][14] Boccaccio has men who mercatanti parevano, e erano masnadieri (“looked like merchants and were bandits”).^[11][15] Brunetto Latini already has the sense of will, as in fo quel che mi pare, “I do as I please”.^[4]

The noun gained the senses of an expert's written opinion, a lawyer's or doctor's report (from Redi in the 17th century), and in administrative law the advisory opinion of a body.^[7][6][16] French borrowed it as parère (1679), a certificate of commercial usage, and German as Parere (1728), now an Austrian medical certificate.^[17]

Timeline

• Before 1249 – Pier della Vigna uses the verb.^[4][6]
• First half of the 13th century – Rugieri d'Amici uses the noun parire.^[4]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses the noun parere “opinion”.^[4][6]
• 1679 – French parère is recorded.^[17]
• 1728 – German Parere is recorded.^[17]

Meanings

Verb

1. To seem, look, appear to be: La casa pare nuova.^[6][16][3]
2. To look like, resemble: Questa cucina pare un laboratorio.^[6][16]
3. (with an infinitive) To seem to do something: Il gatto pare dormire.^[6][13]
4. (impersonal) It seems, it appears; it is said: pare che…, mi pare di…;^[6][16][13] pare ieri, it seems like yesterday.^[6][16][13]
5. To think fit, to please: fa’ quello che ti pare;^[13][3][4] non ti pare?, don't you think so?^[13][3][4]
6. (literary) To appear, become visible.^[13][11]

Noun

1. An opinion, view: a mio parere, in my opinion;^[6][16][13] cambiare parere, to change one's mind.^[6][16][13]
2. Expert advice or judgement: il parere di un avvocato.^[6][16][13]
3. (law) The advisory opinion of a competent body in an administrative procedure: parere obbligatorio, facoltativo, vincolante.^[6][16][13]
4. (literary) Appearance, as opposed to being: l’essere e il parere.^[6][13]

Word family

• disparere
• parvente

Related words

• apparire
• parvenza
• comparire
• Latin pareo

Usage notes

The verb takes essere and has the irregular forms paio, paiono, parvi, parso and future parrò; it has no imperative.^[1][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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 Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2775
8. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
11. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12, 595
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
17. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it