proporre

Forms

proporre (first-person singular present propóngo, first-person singular past historic propósi, past participle propósto or propòsto, first-person singular imperfect proponévo, auxiliary avére)^[1] Older forms include Old Italian proponere, Old Italian proponare, Old Italian propuonere, Old Italian propurre and Old Italian prupórre.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin prōpōnō (“to put before the eyes; set forth; offer”),^[4][5][6][1] made of prō (“before, forward”) and pōnō (“to put, place”).^[5][7][8] Devoto saw the Latin verb crossed with porre, which gave it its present shape beside the older proponere.^[9][3][10]

The Latin present participle, the past participle used as a neuter noun, prōpositum, and its derivative prōpositiō came into Italian by the learned route as proponente, proposito and proposizione.^[5][4] Orioles saw the influence of French proposition, and perhaps of the English word proposition, where the Italian word takes the sense “proposals”.^[5] The same Latin verb is Spanish proponer, while French has the derivative proposer.^[4]

According to de Vaan, the Latin simple verb goes back to Proto-Italic *posinō (“to put down”), a compound of sinō (“to let, allow”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Zingarelli date the first record before 1243.^[6][7] DELI's earliest sense is “to put something before someone for examination or discussion”, in Brunetto Latini before 1294.^[5] Dante uses it so in the Paradiso: the bachelor arms himself and does not speak fin che 'l maestro la question propone (“until the master sets the question”).^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the Novellino, at the end of the 13th century, it means “to establish, determine”.^[5] Petrarch, before 1374, uses it for suggesting something one thinks useful or right, the main sense today.^[5] The literary sense “to decide” is old: Boccaccio has propose di tornare a Parigi (“he decided to go back to Paris”).^[7][3] The verb also meant “to put before the eyes” and “to state first, premise”, as in Dante's queste cose proposte, così procedo (“these things set out first, I proceed thus”).^[7][10]

Its derivatives fill the language of debate and law: proposta “proposal” before 1292, proposito “purpose” before 1321 and “subject of a discourse” in 1293–1294, proposizione in logic in 1304–1308, and proposta di legge, a bill not presented by the government, in the Bologna constitution of 1796.^[5] The proverb l'uomo propone e Dio dispone, “man proposes and God disposes”, is a fixed expression.^[6][3][7]

Timeline

• Before 1243 – First record of the verb.^[6][7]
• Before 1292 – Proposta appears in Giamboni.^[5]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for putting a matter up for discussion.^[5]
• End of the 13th century – The Novellino uses it for “to establish”.^[5]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses proposizione.^[5]
• c. 1336 – Boccaccio uses proponente, one who makes a proposal.^[5]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses it for “to suggest”.^[5]
• 1764 – Improponibile is first recorded.^[4]
• 1796 – Proposta di legge appears in the constitution of Bologna.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To put forward for others' attention or judgement: a question, a topic, a doubt.^[6][3][10]
2. To propose, suggest, offer as suitable or useful; with di and an infinitive or che and a subjunctive: Propongo di cenare in giardino.^[6][3][8]
3. To put someone forward for a post or an award; to nominate.^[6][3][7]
4. (literary) To decide; to destine.^[3][7][1]
5. (archaic) To put before the eyes; to state first, premise.^[7][10][3]
6. (pronominal, proporsi) To set oneself a goal or resolve to do something; to offer oneself, as a candidate.^[7][12][3]

Word family

• proposta
• proposito
• proposizione
• proponente
• proponimento
• proponibile
• improponibile
• riproporre
• controproposta
• sproposito
• proposto

Related words

• porre
• French proposer
• Latin prōpōnō

Usage notes

The proverb l'uomo propone e Dio dispone says that human plans succeed only as God, or chance, allows.^[3][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 14, 642
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 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 o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
11. ^ 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 Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli