premere

Forms

premere (first-person singular present prèmo, first-person singular past historic premétti or (traditional) premètti or preméi, past participle premùto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin premō (“to press, squeeze; oppress, pursue closely”).^[2][3][4][1] The verb continues in Italy and the western Romance languages: Old French preindre, Occitan premer and Catalan premer.^[3][5] Its past participle pressus is the source of presso.^[3]

De Vaan traces the Latin verb to Proto-Italic *pres- and Proto-Indo-European *pr-es- (“to press”).^[6] Nocentini connects it with a simpler root Proto-Indo-European *per- found in a Slavic verb meaning “to tread with the feet”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Zingarelli dates the first record to 1282, and GRADIT and Nocentini to before 1292.^[7][4][3] DELI's first dated sense is “to oppress, weigh on”, in Giordano da Pisa in 1304.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Early in the 14th century the verb meant “to pursue closely” in a translation of Guido delle Colonne, and Dante used it for squeezing.^[2] Dante also has the figurative sense of a grief that oppresses: disperato dolor che 'l cor mi preme (“desperate grief that weighs on my heart”).^[8][7] Boccaccio, in 1353, has the plain sense “to press with weight or force”.^[2] The old past historic pressi and past participle presso gave way to premetti and premuto.^[7][8]

The intransitive sense “to matter, be close to one's heart” appears in Franco Sacchetti before 1400.^[2] The derivative premura “haste; care” is dated to 1497 by Nocentini and to Castiglione's writing of 1515–1518 by DELI;^[3][2] Nocentini notes that it is formed on the present stem, unusually for a noun in ⟨-ura⟩, and is independent of Spanish primor.^[3][2] The verb premurare was mocked by Belli in 1843.^[2]

Today the usual senses are pressing a button or key and putting pressure on someone to act.^[4][9]

Timeline

• 1282 – First record, according to the Zingarelli.^[7]
• 1304 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for “to oppress”.^[2]
• Early 14th century – A translation of Guido delle Colonne has “to pursue closely”.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for squeezing.^[2]
• 1353 – Boccaccio uses it for pressing with weight or force.^[2]
• Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti has the intransitive sense “to matter”.^[2]
• 1497 – The derivative premura is first recorded.^[3]
• 1547 – Premmito, the later premito, appears in Paolo Giovio's letters.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To press, push on, squeeze: Premi il secondo interruttore a sinistra.^{[4][10][9][1]}
2. (transitive) To press hard, pursue closely: La cavalleria premeva i fuggiaschi verso il fiume.^[4][9][7]
3. (transitive, literary) To tread on; to squeeze out juice.^[4][10][7]
4. (transitive, figurative, literary) To oppress; of a feeling, to torment.^[4][8][7]
5. (intransitive) To exert pressure, push (on, against): Il vento premeva contro le imposte.^[4][8][9]
6. (intransitive, figurative) To put pressure on someone to act: premere su qualcuno.^[4][9][8]
7. (intransitive) To be urgent.^[4][7]
8. (intransitive, figurative) To matter, be of concern (to someone): Mi preme sapere come sta tua madre.^[4][9][8][1]

Word family

• premura
• premuroso
• premurare
• premito
• premitura
• premistoffa
• premistoppa

Related words

• presso
• pressione
• spremere
• Latin premō

Usage notes

The past historic is premetti or premei; the past participle is premuto.^[9][8] As an intransitive verb it takes avere.^[8][7] The literary premere “to make known” in Dante is a separate word, a learned borrowing of Latin prōmō.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 g h 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. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3062
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
9. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 14, 584