poggiare

poggiare¹ bear away (nautical)

Pronunciation

• /podˈd͡ʒa.re/^[1]

Forms

poggiare (first-person singular present pòggio, first-person singular past historic poggiài, past participle poggiàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] A less common form is puggiare, which Sabatini–Coletti calls Ligurian.^[2][3]

Etymology

The word for the sailing manoeuvre is formed from Italian poggia + -are.^[4][1][3] DELI treats it under poggia and numbers this verb 1.^[5] The noun first named a rope tied to the lower end of the yard of a lateen sail, by which the sail was turned, and then the leeward side of a ship.^[5][6] Its source is Late Latin podia, taken from Ancient Greek ποδία (podía), which is derived from πούς (poús, “foot”), because the rope was fixed at the lowest corners of the sail.^[5][6]

Nocentini explains the verb through the noun's history: from “sheet”, the rope that sets the sails to the wind, the noun came to mean the side away from the wind, and the verb then meant to turn the ship that way.^[6] The common verb poggiare² “to lean, rest” has a separate source, Vulgar Latin *podiāre.^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's earliest example is in Boccaccio in 1353, where the verb is said of the wind blowing in a given direction.^[5] The TLIO files that use of the wind under the other poggiare, the verb meaning “rise”, which it traces to Old Occitan.^[7] The nautical sense of turning the bow away from the wind is dated before 1512 by GRADIT and to the early 16th century by Nocentini and Devoto–Oli.^[4][6][8]

Semantic evolution

The noun behind the verb is older: Medieval Latin pogia is recorded in 1268, and Dante uses poggia for the leeward side of a ship.^[5] DELI cites the manoeuvre from Pantera's treatise of 1614, where the verb means to steer the bow away from the wind so as to take it better in the sails, and also to set a course that leads away from a storm.^[5][9]

From this came the sense of a ship running for shelter in a port or a roadstead in bad weather, and a general sense of moving sideways in a given direction, also of a driver keeping to one side.^[4][2][10] In aviation the verb is used for turning the nose of an aircraft away from the wind.^[4][8] It is the opposite of orzare, to turn the bow towards the wind;^[3][8] poggia! is the order given to the helmsman to make the manoeuvre.^[3][8]

Timeline

• 1268 – The noun is recorded as Medieval Latin pogia.^[5]
• 1353 – Boccaccio uses poggiare of the wind blowing in a given direction.^[5]
• Before 1512 – The nautical sense, to turn the bow away from the wind, is first recorded.^[4]
• 1614 – Pantera describes the manoeuvre in his treatise on seamanship.^[5][9]
• Second half of the 16th century – The noun poggiata, the act of bearing away, is formed from the verb.^[4]
• 1873 – Strapoggiare, to bear away too far, is first recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (nautical) To bear away: to turn the bow of a sailing boat away from the direction of the wind, so that the wind acts better on the sails; the opposite of orzare: Al largo del capo il timoniere poggiò.^[4][8][2][3]
2. (nautical) Of a ship, to take refuge in a port, a roadstead or another safe place in bad weather or after damage.^[4][8][10]
3. (aviation) To turn the nose of an aircraft away from the direction the wind blows from.^[4][8]
4. To move sideways towards a given direction, also of a driver keeping to one side: Poggia verso il marciapiede.^[4][10][2]
5. (literary) Of the wind, to blow.^[4][2][10]

Word family

• poggiata
• strapoggiare

poggiare² lean, rest

Pronunciation

• /podˈd͡ʒa.re/^[1]

Forms

poggiare (first-person singular present pòggio, first-person singular past historic poggiài, past participle poggiàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

The word for leaning and resting is inherited from Vulgar Latin *podiāre, a verb formed from Latin podium (“pedestal, base”).^[5][6][4][8] DELI numbers this verb 2.^[5] Nocentini and GRADIT number it 1, before the nautical verb.^[6][4] The verb Medieval Latin podiare is recorded in the Latin of Parma in the 14th century.^[9][11] The Latin noun is a borrowing of Ancient Greek πόδιον (pódion, “base”), a diminutive of πούς (poús, “foot”).^[1][12]

The same verb is Occitan pojar and Catalan pujar, which mean “to go up”.^[6][13][1] Wiktionary adds Portuguese pojar, Friulian poiâ and Venetian pojar.^[1] A related Vulgar Latin *appodiāre gave appoggiare and French appuyer; Spanish apoyar and Portuguese apoiar were taken from Italian at the end of the 15th century, as terms of architecture.^[14][13][1]

The sense “to rise, go up” is treated as a separate verb by GRADIT (its third homograph), the GDLI and DEI, which derive it from poggio (“hill”) with the suffix of -are, as montare comes from monte.^{[4][11][9][3]} The TLIO takes it from Old Occitan poiar.^[7] Poggio itself continues the same Latin noun in the sense “height”.^[13][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record of the sense “to make for a high place, rise” is Brunetto Latini's Tesoretto, written before 1274.^[7] The sense “to lean, rest” is found in the 13th-century poet Chiaro Davanzati, and Dante writes in the Vita nuova (about 1292–1293) Poggiai la mia persona simulatamente ad una pintura, “I leaned my body, pretending, against a painting”.^[5][7][11]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb meant to set an object or one's own body on or against something that supports it, also used reflexively.^[7] Dante also has it in the intransitive sense “to be supported, be based”, which DELI dates before 1321.^[5] The other early sense, to go up and, figuratively, to rise spiritually or morally, belonged to poetry: Petrarch calls himself l'uccel che più per l'aere poggia, “the bird that rises highest through the air”.^[7][11][15] The TLIO also records the senses “to grow, increase” and, of the wind, “to blow”.^[7]

Tommaseo already marked the senses “to rise” and “to lean” as not in spoken use.^[15] In modern Italian poggiare means to put or rest something on a support, and intransitively to rest on a base or, figuratively, to be founded on something; the sense “to rise” is literary.^[4][8][3] Compounds such as poggiatesta (1929) and poggiapiedi (1947) name supports for the head and the feet.^[6]

Timeline

• Before 1274 – Brunetto Latini's Tesoretto has poggiare in the sense “to rise”.^[7]
• 13th century – Chiaro Davanzati uses the verb in the sense “to lean, rest”.^[5][11]
• About 1292–1293 – Dante writes Poggiai la mia persona in the Vita nuova.^[7][11]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it intransitively for “to be supported, be based”.^[5]
• 14th century – Medieval Latin podiare is recorded at Parma.^[9][11]
• 1907 – Ripoggiare, to rest again, is first recorded.^[4]
• 1929 – Poggiatesta (headrest) is first recorded.^[6]
• 1947 – Poggiapiedi (footrest) is first recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To rest, put or lean something on a surface or support: Poggiò la valigia accanto alla porta.^[4][8][3]
2. (intransitive) To rest on a base, be supported by something: Il ponte poggia su tre piloni.^[4][8][3]
3. (intransitive, figurative) To be based or founded on something: La sua teoria poggia su pochi dati.^[4][8][2]
4. (reflexive, literary) poggiarsi: to lean on or against something.^[3][10][8]
5. (literary) To go up, rise; figuratively, to rise high.^{[4][2][3][10]}

Word family

• poggiatesta
• poggiapiedi
• ripoggiare