rammemorare

Forms

rammemorare (first-person singular present rammèmoro, first-person singular past historic rammemorài, past participle rammemoràto, auxiliary avére)^[1] The older spelling is Old Italian ramemorare.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin rememorārī, a derivative of Latin memor (“mindful”), with the prefix changed to Italian ra-.^{[4][5][6][7][8]} Treccani explains the change by the many Italian verbs formed with ri- and a-.^[2] GRADIT treats it as an Italian formation memorare with ra-, and compares the Late Latin verb.^[9] The GDLI also analyses it as the same verb with intensive prefixes going back to re- and ad-.^[9][3] Zingarelli derives it from rimemorare, with a change of prefix.^[10] The Latin verb is formed with the same prefix on memoror.^[1] Tommaseo cites rememoro from Tertullian.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli dates the word to before 1327, and GRADIT to 1348–1353, citing Boccaccio.^[10][9] In Boccaccio a man compares his former life with the present and se medesimo schernendo ramemora (“remembers, mocking himself”).^[3][11]

Semantic evolution

The Ottimo commentary on Dante already uses it, and Savonarola, Trissino, Galileo and Goldoni wrote it in the sense “call back to memory”.^[11][3] The pronominal rammemorarsi, “remember”, takes di: Boccaccio has rammemorandosi delle parole del salmista.^[5][10]

The word has stayed literary and uncommon;^[9][6][2] rammentare and ricordare are the usual verbs.^[9][6][2]

Timeline

• Before 1327 – Zingarelli's date of first record.^[10]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses the verb.^[9]
• 1500s – Trissino writes ramemorando ogni suo minim’atto.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, literary) To call back to memory; to recall or remind.^{[9][5][6][2][1]}
2. (pronominal, rammemorarsi, literary) To remember (+ di): Si rammemorò dei consigli del nonno.^{[5][6][10][2]}

Word family

• rammemorabile
• rammemorazione
• rammemoramento
• rammemoranza
• rammemorativo
• rammemoratore

Related words

• rimembrare
• rimemorare
• memorare
• rammentare
• memore
• Latin rememoror

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
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, p. 15, 402
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET