provocare

Forms

provocare (first-person singular present pròvoco, first-person singular past historic provocài, past participle provocàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin prōvocō (“to call out, challenge”), from prō- (“forth”) and vocō (“to call”), a verb formed from vōx (“voice”).^[2][3][4][5] DELI, DEI and Zingarelli call it a learned word.^[2][6][5] The same Latin verb is French provoquer and Spanish provocar, and in Spanish and Catalan it also means “to make someone vomit”.^[3][6][7]

The present participle in the sense “alluring, provocative” follows French provocant, which has had that meaning since 1775.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the verb to before 1292, and Zingarelli to 1268.^[8][5] DELI's first records are in the Italian Crescenzi (about 1350), in the sense “to bring about, cause”, and in the translation of Saint Augustine (second half of the 14th century), in the sense “to challenge”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the verb meant to call or force someone to fight: the Augustine translation speaks of provoking peaceful neighbours to war, and Tasso writes of a king who did not dare to challenge the Frankish troops.^[9] In medicine it meant to bring on a bodily function, and provocativo was used of a medicine that did so.^[2]

Since then the sense “to cause, bring about” has become the commonest, while “to irritate someone into reacting” and “to arouse desire” stand beside it.^[8][10] The agente provocatore is recorded from 1931.^[6]

Timeline

• 1268 – Zingarelli's first date for provocare.^[5]
• About 1350 – The Italian Crescenzi uses it for “to cause”.^[2]
• Second half of the 14th century – The translation of Saint Augustine uses it for “to challenge”.^[2]
• 1498 – Provocatorio appears in a song of the Piagnoni.^[2]
• Before 1527 – Machiavelli uses provocatore.^[2]
• 1831 – Provocante “alluring” is recorded.^[2]
• 1931 – Agente provocatore is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cause, to bring about an event or effect: La pioggia ha provocato una frana.^[8][11][10]
2. To give rise to a physical or emotional reaction: Questo farmaco può provocare sonnolenza.^[8][11]
3. To provoke: to irritate someone with words or behaviour so as to make them react, often violently: Smettila di provocarlo!^[8][11][10]
4. To arouse sexual desire in someone by one's behaviour.^[8][10][5]
5. (literary) To urge, to incite someone to a feeling or an action: provocare all'odio.^[5][8]

Word family

• provocante
• provocativo
• provocatore
• provocatorio
• provocazione
• provocarsi

Related words

• avvocare
• convocare
• evocare
• invocare
• revocare
• voce
• Latin prōvocō
• French provoquer

Usage notes

The pronominal provocarsi means to cause oneself an injury: si è provocato una frattura.^[11][5]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3123
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 14, 793
10. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
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