perseguire

Forms

perseguire (first-person singular present perséguo or persèguo, first-person singular past historic perseguìi, past participle perseguìto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old Italian also wrote it with ⟨qu⟩, as in the participles Old Italian persequido and Old Italian persequito, and had a form Old Italian persiguire.^[2] The GDLI lists the old form Old Italian persequire and an old participle Old Italian perseguido.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *persequere, the spoken form of Latin persequī (“to follow closely, press on; to persecute; to reach”).^[4][2][5] Wiktionary reconstructs the Vulgar Latin verb as *persequīre.^[1] DELI, GRADIT and Devoto–Oli derive the word from the Latin verb without an intermediate form,^[5][6][7] while Zingarelli and the GDLI call it a learned word and DEI a learned adaptation.^[8][3][9] Devoto saw in its shape the influence of the Italian verb seguire.^[10]

The same Latin verb gave Occitan perseguir, Catalan perseguir and Spanish perseguir.^[4][11] With a different prefix, the French verb is poursuivre.^[11]

The Latin verb is formed from per- (“through, to the end”) and sequor (“to follow”).^[12][5] De Vaan traces the simple verb to Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow, accompany”), the source also of Ancient Greek ἕπομαι (hépomai, “to follow”) and Lithuanian sèkti (“to follow”).^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Milanese poems of Bonvesin de la Riva, in the 13th century; its first sense is to carry something forward, or to go on following something.^[2] DELI dates the sense “to try to reach” to Dante, 1310–1313.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb for chasing someone to catch them, and figuratively for harassing, condemning under the law, striving for a goal and carrying something out.^[2] Dante wrote of Fortune that she persegue suo regno, pursues her rule, as the other gods do theirs.^[3] In the Purgatorio the verb means to persecute, of Domitian and the early Christians.^[14][15] Boccaccio and Petrarch used it for running after someone, and intransitively for going on, continuing.^[15][7]

The senses “persecute” and “continue” have grown literary or archaic, and Carducci still used the first.^[7][16] The modern verb means above all to strive for an aim, and in law to prosecute a crime or an offender.^[6][7][17] The derivative perseguibile “liable to prosecution” is recorded from 1935.^[5]

Timeline

• 13th century – Bonvesin de la Riva uses the verb in Milanese.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Zingarelli's date for the first record.^[8]
• 1310–1313 – Dante uses it for trying to reach a goal.^[5]
• 1935 – Perseguibile “liable to prosecution” appears, in Lorenzo Viani.^[5]
• 1958 – Nocentini's date for perseguibile.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pursue an aim, to work to achieve something: perseguire la pace.^{[6][7][17][1]}
2. (law) To prosecute an offender or an offence: la legge persegue la corruzione.^[6][7][8][1]
3. (literary, uncommon) To persecute.^{[6][7][17][1]}
4. (literary) To chase or follow someone or something.^[8]
5. (archaic) To continue, go on.^[6][7][14]

Word family

• perseguibile
• perseguimento

Related words

• seguire
• perseguitare
• Latin persequor
• French poursuivre

Usage notes

The present is perséguo (also persèguo), conjugated like seguire; the old past historic perseguètti has given way to perseguìi.^[1][7][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 13, 90
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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 d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2864
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 327
11. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
17. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse