piovere

Forms

piovere (first-person singular present piòvo, first-person singular past historic piòvvi, past participle piovùto, auxiliary (impersonal or intransitive) èssere or (impersonal or transitive) avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin plŏvere, the popular form recorded in Petronius (44, 18) for classical Latin pluere (“to rain”).^[2][3][4][1] The verb is found in every Romance language: French pleuvoir, Occitan ploure, Catalan ploure, Spanish llover, Portuguese chover, Sardinian piòere and Romanian ploua.^[3][5][6]

De Vaan derives the Latin verb from Proto-Italic *plow-e/o- (“to rain”) and Proto-Indo-European *plew- (“to swim, float”): rain was seen as something floating or pouring down.^[7] The present with ⟨u⟩ was probably taken from compound verbs, since one would otherwise expect a form with ⟨v⟩, as in the popular Petronian form.^[7] Its relatives include Ancient Greek πλέω (pléō, “to sail, swim”), Ancient Greek πλύνω (plúnō, “to wash”) and Lithuanian pláuti (“to rinse”).^[7][3] Nocentini notes that the sense “to rain” is secondary, the other languages pointing to “to pour”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the verb to the early 13th century.^[4] DELI's first record is in the Novellino of the late 13th century, with the sense “to fall, of rain”.^[2] A derivative is recorded just as early: plovesenare “to drizzle” in Ugo di Perso.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Petrarch (before 1374) used the verb of tears falling like rain and of people flocking in great numbers, and Neri degli Strinati (14th century) of a roof that slopes.^[2] The figurative uses multiplied: things fall in quantity (piovono sassi), news or troubles pour in, and a visitor turns up unannounced (ci è piovuto in casa).^[4][8] Proverbial phrases include tanto tuonò che piovve, of something long threatened that finally happens, piove sul bagnato, of luck or misfortune coming to those who already have plenty, and the colloquial non ci piove, “there's no doubt about it”.^[9][10][8] Piove, governo ladro! (“it's raining, thieving government!”), mocking the habit of blaming the government for everything, was coined in 1861 by the caricaturist Casimiro Teja.^[11][10]

Old Tuscan also had the noun piova “rain” beside pioggia;^[2] Dante used piova only in rhyme.^[2] The month name piovoso of the French Republican calendar is a rendering of French pluviôse.^[2]

Timeline

• 13th century – Ugo di Perso uses plovesenare “to drizzle”.^[2]
• Before 1264 – The noun piova “rain” is recorded.^[3]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses piovere.^[2]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi has piovuso “rainy”.^[2]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses the verb of tears and of crowds.^[2]
• 1797 – Piovoso names a month of the French Republican calendar.^[2]
• 1861 – Casimiro Teja coins piove, governo ladro!.^[11]
• 1870 – Piovasco “squall” is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (impersonal) To rain: Stanotte è piovuto senza sosta.^{[4][10][12][9][1]}
2. (impersonal) Of water, to drip or leak from above, through a roof or ceiling: In cucina piove dal soffitto.^{[4][10][12][9][1]}
3. To fall from above in large quantities, to rain down.^{[4][10][12][1]}
4. (figurative) To arrive or happen in great numbers: Gli piovvero addosso le critiche.^{[4][10][9][1]}
5. (figurative) Of a person, to turn up unexpectedly.^[4][12][8]
6. To slope, of a roof.^[4][8]
7. Of hair, to fall loosely.^[4][9]
8. (literary, transitive) To make fall like rain, to pour down.^[4][12][1]

Word family

• piova
• piovano
• piovasco
• piovigginare
• pioviggine
• piovigginoso
• piovoso
• piovosità
• piovorno
• spiovere
• spiovente
• ripiovere

Related words

• pioggia
• Latin pluō
• French pleuvoir

Usage notes

The impersonal verb takes essere or avere (è piovuto, ha piovuto); avere stresses a longer duration.^[11][9][1] The past historic is piovve; the old form was piové.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
7. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
9. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
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. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse