Etymologically
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raggiungere

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Pronunciation

  • /radˈd͡ʒun.d͡ʒe.re/[1]

Forms

raggiungere (first-person singular present raggiùngo, first-person singular past historic raggiùnsi, past participle raggiùnto, auxiliary avére)[1] The older form is raggiugnere;[2][3][4] the GDLI also lists ragiógnare, ragiógnere, ragióngere and ragiùgnere.[5]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian ri- + aggiungere (“to reach”), from the old sense of the verb “to reach, arrive at”, with the reinforcing prefix.[6][3][7][8] Nocentini, Devoto–Oli and Wiktionary instead derive it from giungere with the prefix ra(d)-, and Devoto calls it a double prefix.[9][2][1][10]

The old verb Old Italian agiungere meant “to reach, arrive” as well as “to add”, as in the Novellino at the end of the 13th century: “Lo cavallo, per la fame, aggiunse con la bocca a questa vitalba per rodegarla” (“the horse, in its hunger, reached this clematis with its mouth to gnaw it”).[6][11] It continues Latin adiungō (“to join to, add”), from iungō (“to join”), which survives in the other Romance languages too: Romanian ajunge, French ajoindre, Catalan ajúnyer and Spanish ajungir.[11] The sense “to reach, arrive” is already found in Late Latin in the 8th century, and in Italy it became more common with the prefix ⟨r-⟩.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Fatti di Cesare, a Sienese text of the end of the 13th century.[12] DELI's first date is Dante's Inferno (1310–1313), in the sense “to catch up with and rejoin someone”: “Poi rigiugnerò la mia masnada” (“then I will rejoin my band”).[6][5]

Semantic evolution

Petrarch, in 1374, uses the verb for catching up with someone who flees: “Già ti raggiuns'io mentre fuggivi” (“I caught up with you as you fled”).[6][5] It took on the sense “to obtain, achieve” in Ariosto before 1533;[6] “to reach a place” is dated by DELI to 1824–1826 (Antonio Cesari) and “to hit” to Giovanni Scalvini before 1843.[6]

The old sense “to join together”, as in Poliziano, has gone out of use, as has the pronominal raggiungersi “to be reunited”.[7][8][13] The TLIO also records the Old Italian senses “to add” and, in arithmetic, “to sum”.[12] In modern use news or a summons can be said to reach someone, often in the passive, and the verb can mean to contact someone, for example by telephone.[2][3]

Timeline

  • Late 13th century – The Fatti di Cesare uses the verb.[12]
  • 1310–1313 – Dante uses it for rejoining one's company.[6]
  • 1374 – Petrarch uses it for catching up with someone who flees.[6]
  • Before 1533 – Ariosto uses it for achieving a goal.[6]
  • 1824–1826 – Antonio Cesari uses it for reaching a place.[6]
  • 1872 – Raggiungimento is recorded in Tommaseo–Bellini.[6]
  • Before 1954 – Luigi Einaudi uses raggiungibile.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To catch up with someone ahead or join someone who is already somewhere: Vai avanti, ti raggiungo al bar.[14][2][7]
  2. To reach a place: Dopo tre ore di cammino raggiungemmo il rifugio.[14][3][8]
  3. Of a quantity, to reach a level: Il fiume ha raggiunto il livello di allarme.[14][2][3]
  4. (figurative) To catch up with someone's level in work or study.[14][2][8]
  5. (figurative) To achieve or attain a goal or a state: Ha raggiunto la serenità che cercava.[14][2][3]
  6. Of news or a notice, to reach someone, often in the passive.[2][3][7]
  7. To hit: Il sasso lo raggiunse alla spalla.[14][2][3]
  8. (obsolete) To join, reunite.[14][7][8]

Word family

  • raggiungibile
  • raggiungimento
  • aggiungere
  • giungere

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  4. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  5. ^ 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. 15, 325
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  8. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  9. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 361
  11. ^ a b c Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 706
  12. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  14. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET