prestare

Forms

prestare (first-person singular present prèsto, first-person singular past historic prestài, past participle prestàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] The past participle also had a short form, presto.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin praestāre (“to provide, guarantee; to lend”).^[3][1][4][5] DELI lists it among the learned words of the family, together with prestazione and prestito, but Nocentini, DEI and the DÉRom treat it as a word of the western Romance languages: French prêter, Occitan prestar, Catalan prestar, Spanish prestar and Portuguese prestar.^[6][3][7][5] The DÉRom reconstructs Proto-Romance */ˈprɛst-a-/ “to be of use; to put something at someone's disposal for a time, to lend”, found in every branch except Romanian and Dalmatian.^[5]

Nocentini separates two Latin sources: an intransitive praestō “to excel”, a compound of prae- (“before”) and stō (“to stand”), the source of prestante, and a transitive verb “to guarantee, put at someone's disposal”, formed from the adverb praestō (“ready, at hand”) (the source of presto); their conjugations later merged.^[3][6][8] GRADIT, Devoto–Oli and GDLI give only the compound “to stand in front”.^[9][10][11] The sense “to lend” developed in Late Latin.^[7][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Florentine bankers' book of 1211, in the sense of giving money or something else on condition that it is returned.^[6][9] Other early Tuscan accounts record sums prestati;^[2] Iacopone writes that one who has lent nothing cannot be blamed.^[2] Guittone d'Arezzo (before 1294) uses the verb in the wider sense “to grant, offer, give”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Besides lending, the verb came to mean giving help, care, attention or faith: prestare fede is in Boccaccio, prestare orecchie in Matteo Villani, and prestare ubbidienza in Davanzati.^[12] Prestare giuramento “to take an oath” is from the legal language, recorded in 1871.^[7]

The reflexive prestarsi “to lend oneself, offer one's help” is dated by DELI to 1801 and by DEI to Bartoli in the 17th century, and is taken to be a calque of French se prêter; purists such as Cesari criticized it.^[6][7] Of things, prestarsi means “to be suitable for”.^[13] From the verb came prestatore (before 1342), prestazione (before 1381, first “tax”, later “service, performance”) and prestito (1554); prestanome “front man” (1804) is modelled on French prête-nom.^[6]

Timeline

• 1211 – A Florentine bankers' book uses prestare “to lend”.^[6]
• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses it for “to give, grant”.^[6]
• Before 1342 – Prestatore is recorded in Domenico Cavalca.^[6]
• Before 1381 – Prestazione is recorded, as a tax.^[6]
• 1554 – Prestito is recorded in Bandello.^[6]
• 1801 – Prestarsi “to offer oneself” is recorded in Milan.^[6]
• 1804 – Prestanome is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lend: to give something on condition that it is returned; of money, to lend it, perhaps at interest: Mi presti la tua penna?^[9][10][13]
2. To give, offer, provide (help, care, one's work): prestare soccorso, prestare servizio “to serve”.^[9][10][13]

Word family

• prestito
• prestatore
• prestazione
• prestanome
• prestavoce
• prestasoldi
• prestarsi
• imprestare

Related words

• improntare
• presto
• prestante
• French prêter
• Latin praesto

Usage notes

Set phrases include prestare attenzione “to pay attention”, prestare fede “to believe”, prestare orecchio “to listen” and prestare il fianco “to lay oneself open”.^[9][10] The reflexive prestarsi means “to offer one's help” and, of things, “to lend itself to, be suited to”.^[13] GDLI records two rare homographs: prestare “to prepare”, an aphetic form of apprestare, and a literary prestare “to speed up” a musical passage, from presto.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c 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, p. 14, 264
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
5. ^ a b c Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3071
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d 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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 803
13. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse