presentare

Forms

presentare (first-person singular present presènto, first-person singular past historic presentài, past participle presentàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin praesentō (“to show, present”), recorded from the 2nd century in Apuleius, from Latin praesēns (“present, at hand”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} DEI and the GDLI call it a learned word, and DEI compares French présenter, recorded from the 12th century;^[5][6][2] Nocentini adds Spanish presentar.^[5][6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT, Nocentini and Devoto–Oli date it to the second half of the 12th century.^[7][2][3] DELI's first record of the sense “to show, submit to someone's sight or judgement” is Giacomino da Verona, at the end of the 13th century, and of “to hand, give” Brunetto Latini (before 1294).^[8]

Semantic evolution

The reflexive “to appear in person” is recorded in the Fiore (1280–1310), “to appear in court” in 1561, “to arise, offer itself” before 1540 in Guicciardini.^[8] The verb also meant “to give as a present”, as in Boccaccio, which DEI dates to the 14th century.^[5][9] The sense “to introduce one person to another” is recorded before 1786, in Gasparo Gozzi; in 1875 Rigutini and Fanfani still found it poor usage.^[8]

“To show to the public” is recorded in 1922 and “to propose” in 1871.^[8] Presentazione (before 1313) comes from Medieval Latin, presentatore is recorded about 1320, and presentabile in 1871, which DEI considers a Gallicism;^[2][5] impresentabile follows in 1951.^[2][5] The polite formula presenterò!, “I will pass on your greetings”, goes back to the 19th century.^[5][4]

Timeline

• 2nd century – Late Latin praesentare appears in Apuleius.^[5]
• 2nd half of the 12th century – Presentare is first recorded.^[7][2]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for “to hand, give”.^[8]
• Before 1313 – Presentazione is recorded.^[2]
• Before 1786 – Gasparo Gozzi uses it for introducing a person.^[8]
• 1871 – Presentabile is recorded.^[2][5]
• 1922 – The sense “to show to the public” is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To show, produce or submit something for inspection: All'ingresso bisogna presentare il passaporto.^{[7][3][10][11]}
2. To introduce a person to someone: Vorrei presentarti mia sorella.^{[7][3][10][1]}
3. To present to the public; to host a show: Stasera il festival lo presenta una nota attrice.^[7][3][4]
4. To put forward or hand in a request, proposal or candidacy: presentare le dimissioni, to resign.^[7][10][4]
5. To offer or express greetings, apologies and the like: presentare le proprie scuse.^[7][3][12]
6. To have or show a feature: Il paziente presenta febbre alta.^[3][10][12]
7. presentarsi: to introduce oneself; to appear, turn up; to arise: Si è presentato in ufficio alle otto.^[8][1][10]

Word family

• presentatore
• presentazione
• presentabile
• impresentabile
• ripresentare

Related words

• presente
• rappresentare
• Latin praesēns

Usage notes

Presentare le armi is the military salute with the rifle held upright in front of the body.^[12][7]

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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3068
6. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli