prezzare

Forms

prezzare (first-person singular present prèzzo, first-person singular past historic prezzài, past participle prezzàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms are Old Italian prezare and Old Italian preziare.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin pretiō (“to esteem, prize”), from Latin pretium (“price, value”).^{[5][4][6][3][7][8]} The Late Latin verb is recorded in Cassiodorus in the 6th century.^[9][10] Wiktionary also allows a formation in Italian from prezzo with the suffix -are, and Devoto–Oli derives the verb from the noun.^[1][11] The GRADIT keeps the old sense “to esteem” under the Latin verb, and explains the commercial sense of 1958 as a new formation from the noun.^[2]

The Late Latin verb also gave Old Occitan prezar and Catalan prehar “to value, praise”, Spanish preciar and Portuguese prezar.^[12][13] Its counterpart French priser was borrowed as pregiare.^[12]

The origin of the Latin noun is uncertain.^[14] De Vaan derives it from a preposition *preti*, with the vowel *e* beside the *o* of Ancient Greek προτί (protí, “towards”) and Sanskrit प्रति (práti, “against, towards”), and finds no viable alternative.^[15][1] Nocentini instead links it with interpres (“intermediary”) and the root Proto-Indo-European *per- of Ancient Greek πέρνημι (pérnēmi, “to sell”).^[16]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is from before 1205, in the form prezare.^[2][4] Nocentini dates the sense “to appreciate, esteem” to the early 13th century.^[16]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the verb meant to value or esteem a person or thing.^[3][10] Boccaccio writes of women “who shun men and esteem them little” (le quali gli uomini schifano e prezzangli poco), and of stones so plentiful that they are poco prezzata “held cheap”.^[3][10] Petrarch has poco prezzando quel ch'ogni uom desia “caring little for what every man desires”, and Ariosto Un magnanimo cor morte non prezza “a great heart does not fear death”.^[10][6] The pronominal verb meant “to care about” in Dante and “to pride oneself” in Castiglione.^[6][4]

Derivatives followed from the 16th century: prezzato (Della Casa), prezzatore (Tasso), and prezzabile and prezzevole (Segneri, 17th century).^[9] After centuries of literary use only, the verb took on in 1958 the commercial sense “to set the price; to mark goods with a price tag”.^[16][2][11]

Timeline

• Before 1205 – prezare “to esteem” is first recorded.^[2][4]
• 14th century – Boccaccio uses prezzare “to value”.^[9][3]
• 16th century – prezzato (Della Casa) and prezzatore (Tasso) appear.^[9]
• 1958 – the commercial sense “to price goods” is recorded.^[16][2][11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, commerce) To price goods, to put a price tag on them: Il commesso prezzava le bottiglie d'olio.^{[2][17][7][8]}
2. (transitive) To set the price of a product.^[11][7][4]
3. (transitive, literary) To esteem, value, hold in regard; to set great store by something.^[2][6][4]
4. (transitive, archaic) To take account of, to fear, mostly in negative sentences.^[6][4]
5. (pronominal, archaic) To care about something; to pride oneself.^[6][4][8]

Word family

• disprezzare
• prezzabile
• prezzato
• prezzevole
• prezzatore
• prezzatrice
• prezzatura
• prezzista
• riprezzare

Related words

• apprezzare
• pregiare
• prezzo
• Latin pretium

Usage notes

The GRADIT lists the literary and the commercial verb as two headwords;^[2][16][6] Nocentini and the other dictionaries keep one verb with both senses.^[2][16][6] The past participle prezzato is also an adjective, “marked with its price”.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
7. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
9. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3077
10. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
14. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
16. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
17. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana