porgere

Forms

porgere or pórgere (first-person singular present pòrgo or pórgo, first-person singular past historic pòrsi or pórsi, past participle pòrto or pórto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old and dialect forms include porgiere, porzere, porgiare and purgere, and an old past participle porgiuto.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin porrigere (“to stretch out in front, hold out”), formed from por-, a variant of pro- (“forward”), and regō (“to direct”).^[3][4][5][1] Sabatini–Coletti and Treccani start from the syncopated Latin form porgere, and Wiktionary lists that shorter form as a Latin variant.^[6][7][1] Tommaseo compared the contraction with that of surgō.^[8] The same Latin verb gave sporgere.^[4]

The verb survives in Italy, Sardinia, the Engadine, Occitania and Spain: Occitan porser, Sardinian porrere and Sardinian porrire in Logudorese, and Spanish purrir.^[4][9][10] Southern dialects have Neapolitan pròjere, with the sense “to give, offer”.^[10] In Lucca the verb was crossed with Latin prōferre (“to bring forward”), giving profergere.^[9][10]

The Latin simple verb goes back to Proto-Italic *regō and Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to stretch, direct”), which also gave Ancient Greek ὀρέγω (orégō, “to stretch”).^[11][1] De Vaan lists the compound, “to extend, hold out”, among its derivatives, recorded from Livius Andronicus on.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, before 1250, is in Cielo d'Alcamo, with the sense “to hold something out to someone so that they can take it”.^[3][5] Nocentini dates it to the first half of the 13th century, with the senses “to pass, give, stretch out”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to offer, give” is recorded at the end of the 13th century in the Novellino.^[3] Dante uses the verb freely: in Inferno 16 the poet hands over the cord he wore (porsila a lui aggroppata e ravvolta, “I held it out to him knotted and coiled”), and elsewhere it means to utter words, to suggest to the mind, to cause (death), and to turn one's steps or eyes.^[2][5] Boccaccio has it for giving relief or pleasure.^[8]

The intransitive sense “to declaim, recite” is dated to 1781, in Bettinelli, but DELI finds it already in Annibal Caro before 1566.^[3] From it comes l'arte del porgere, the art of public speaking.^[6][5] The derivative porgitore “one who hands” is recorded before 1380 in Saint Catherine of Siena, and in 1891 as “a speaker who accompanies his words with gestures”.^[3]

Today the verb is mostly formal: porgere la mano, porgere orecchio, courtesy formulas such as porgere distinti saluti, and porgere l'altra guancia, “to turn the other cheek”, after the Gospel of Matthew.^[5][12][13]

Timeline

• Before 1250 – Cielo d'Alcamo uses porgere “to hold out, hand”.^[3][5]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses it for “to offer, give”.^[3][2]
• Before 1380 – Porgitore is recorded in Saint Catherine of Siena.^[3]
• Before 1566 – Annibal Caro uses porgere for speaking or delivering words.^[3]
• 1781 – Bettinelli uses the intransitive sense “to declaim, recite”.^[3]
• 1891 – Porgitore is recorded for a speaker who uses gestures.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hand or hold something out to someone so that they can take it: mi porgi le forbici?;^[5][12][7] porgere la mano, to hold out one's hand to be shaken.^[5][12][7]
2. (figurative) To offer or lend: porgere aiuto, porgere ascolto, to pay attention.^[5][12][13]
3. In formulas of courtesy, especially in letters, to present or express: porgere le condoglianze.^[5][12][13]
4. (intransitive) To recite or deliver a speech with suitable pauses, intonation and gestures; also as a noun, l'arte del porgere.^[5][6][13]
5. (literary) To say or utter; to suggest.^[5][13][14]
6. (literary) To cause, bring about; to arouse.^[5][13]
7. (literary) To direct or turn, especially the eyes or one's steps.^[5]

Word family

• porgitore
• porgimento
• riporgere

Related words

• sporgere
• reggere
• Latin porrigo

Usage notes

The stressed vowel is open or close: pòrgo and pórgo, past historic pòrsi or pórsi, past participle pòrto or pórto.^[1][13] Porgere l'altra guancia is to bear offences without reacting, after the precept in Matthew 5:39.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
8. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3023
11. ^ 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
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli