reggere

Forms

reggere (first-person singular present règgo, first-person singular past historic rèssi, past participle rètto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old and dialect forms include Old Italian regere, Old Italian reggiere and Old Italian regiare.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin regō (“to direct, guide, rule”), properly “to guide in a straight line”.^[3][4][1][5] Nocentini counts it among the inherited Latin words and notes that French régir and Spanish regir came by learned transmission;^[3][6] DELI instead classes the Italian verb as a learned word.^[3][6] Meyer-Lübke gives the Logudorese reere beside Italian, and DEI points to popular northern derivatives such as Lombard regiòr “father” and regiora “mother”, originally “the one who rules the house”.^[7][8]

The Latin verb continues Proto-Italic *reg-e/o-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to stretch, direct”); the same root is in Ancient Greek ὀρέγω (orégō, “to stretch”) and Lithuanian ręžti (“to stretch”).^[9][3] From it Latin also formed rēx (“king”), regiō, rēgula (“rod, rule”) and rēctor (“ruler”), the sources of Italian re, regione, regola and rettore.^[9][3]

Reggimento continues Late Latin regimentum in the sense “government”, but in the military sense it follows German Regiment (1534); reggenza is a Romance formation.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Nocentini date the verb to before 1292, from Bono Giamboni's Vizi e virtù, where it means “to guide, govern”: come si dovesse reggere e guardare (“how one should govern and guard oneself”).^[4][3][6] DELI also cites the 13th-century Anonimo genovese for the sense “to hold up”: l'atro lo corpo sostenea; / e lagremando lo rezea (“the other held up the body, and weeping supported him”).^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses the verb both for “to bear the weight of” and “to be at the head of” (1300–1313), and Brunetto Latini already speaks of reggiere le pubbliche cose (“to govern public affairs”).^[6] Intransitive uses followed: “to resist, hold out” before 1348 in Giovanni Villani, “to last” before 1600 in Bernardo Davanzati; the reflexive “to govern oneself” is in Petrarch (1374) and “to stand upright” in 1612.^[6] The grammatical sense “to require a construction” is recorded in 1745.^[6]

In modern colloquial use non lo reggo means “I can't stand him”, and reggere l'alcol is to hold one's drink.^[4][10] Many compounds name things that hold something up: reggicalze “suspender belt” (1943), reggilibro “bookend” (1925) and reggiseno “bra” (1959), beside the older reggipetto.^[6] In San Marino the two heads of state are the capitani reggenti (1872).^[6]

Timeline

• 1219 – Regitori “rulers” appears in the Breve di Montieri.^[6]
• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses regimento.^[6]
• 13th century – The Anonimo genovese uses the verb for “to hold up”.^[6]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for “to guide, govern”.^[6][4]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses it for “to support” and “to be at the head of”.^[6]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it intransitively, “to resist”.^[6]
• 1602 – Reggimento is recorded in the military sense.^[6]
• 1630 – Reggenza appears in Enrico Caterino Davila.^[6]
• 1745 – The grammatical sense is recorded in Salvatore Corticelli.^[6]
• 1959 – Reggiseno is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To support, to hold up someone so that they do not fall: Lo reggevano sotto le braccia due amici.^[4][11][10]
2. To hold, carry in one's hands or arms; to hold steady: Reggimi l'ombrello mentre apro il portone.^[4][11][12]
3. To bear the weight of, to prop up: Quattro colonne reggono il portico.^[4][5]
4. (colloquial) To stand, tolerate: Quel tipo proprio non lo reggo. Also reggere l'alcol, to hold one's drink.^[4][5][10]
5. To steer, drive (a boat, a carriage).^[4][10]
6. To govern, rule, run (a state, a firm); to hold an office for a time in place of its holder.^[4][10][5]
7. (grammar) To govern, to take (a case or construction).^[10][5][1]
8. (intransitive) To hold out, resist (with a): L'argine non ha retto alla piena.^[10][5][1]
9. (intransitive) To last, hold: Speriamo che il bel tempo regga fino a domenica.^[5][1][6]
10. (reggersi) To stand upright, keep one's balance; to govern oneself.^[5][6][13]

Word family

• reggente
• reggenza
• reggimento
• reggitore
• reggiseno
• reggicalze
• reggipetto
• reggilibro
• reggibile
• sorreggere
• irreggimentare

Related words

• correggere
• regime
• rettore
• regola
• regione
• re
• retto
• Latin regō

Usage notes

Common phrases are reggere il moccolo (or la candela), to keep two lovers company;^[11][10][12] reggere il sacco a qualcuno, to be someone's accomplice; and reggere l'anima coi denti, to be close to death.^[11][10][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. 15, 694
3. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3223
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
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 c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)