respirare

Forms

respirare (first-person singular present respìro, first-person singular past historic respirài, past participle respiràto, auxiliary avére)^[1] The old variant rispirare was in use from the 14th century.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin respīrō (“to blow back; to breathe, recover one's breath”).^[4][5][6][7] The Latin verb is a compound of the prefix re- (“again”), with iterative or durative value, and spīrō (“to blow, breathe”), so that it first meant “to blow again”.^[4][6][8][9] DEI notes that the sense “to recover, get some rest” is already in Cicero.^[7] Wiktionary instead treats the word as a Latinized form of the older Old Italian rispirare, which it takes as inherited.^[1]

The same Latin verb gave French respirer, recorded in the 12th century, and Spanish respirar.^[5][7][10] The noun respīrātiō is classical, while respīrābilis is Late Latin, first in Boethius in the 6th century.^[4]

In the dialects the verb lives only in Liguria, Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio: the northern dialects use words descended from fiatare instead, and in Basilicata the usual word is sospirare.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Francesco da Buti's commentary on Dante, in the 14th century, for breathing.^[4] Tommaseo quotes the passage: Ogni corpo vivo spira e respira, attraendo l'aere senza lo qual non si vive (“every living body breathes out and breathes in, drawing in the air without which one cannot live”).^[3] GRADIT dates the word before 1342 and DEI to the 13th century.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “to find relief, to rest from toil” is in the 14th-century Italian Seneca and in Petrarch, and in 1374 Petrarch also used the verb for simply being alive.^[4][11] Domenico Cavalca wrote of a hermit who seemed dead se non che ancora nel petto rispirava e palpitava (“except that he still breathed and his heart still beat in his chest”).^[12] The transitive use, to breathe in air or another gas, is recorded before 1694 in Marcello Malpighi.^[4] Zingarelli marks as obsolete the senses “to give off vapour” and “to give off a smell”.^[13]

The derivatives came later: respirazione (as respiratione before 1460 in Savonarola), respiro (before 1640), respirabile (1795), respiratorio (1835) and respiratore (1891).^[4] Respirazione artificiale is the title of a medical treatise by Filippo Pacini of 1875.^[4] Modern Italian also uses the verb for sensing an atmosphere, as of tension or of art in a city.^[6][13]

Timeline

• 13th century – DEI's date for the first record.^[7]
• 14th century – Francesco da Buti uses respirare for breathing.^[4]
• 1374 – Petrarch uses it in the sense “to live”.^[4]
• Before 1460 – Savonarola uses respiratione.^[4]
• Before 1640 – Respiro is first recorded.^[4]
• Before 1694 – Marcello Malpighi uses the verb transitively.^[4]
• 1875 – Filippo Pacini publishes his method of respirazione artificiale.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To breathe, to draw air into the lungs or gills and let it out: Il cane respirava a fatica.^[6][14][8]
2. (intransitive, often impersonal) To have enough air or room to breathe comfortably: Apri la finestra, qui non si respira.^[6][14][15]
3. (intransitive, figurative) To find relief, to have some rest after effort or trouble: Dopo gli esami posso finalmente respirare.^[6][14][13]
4. (transitive) To breathe in, inhale: In città respiriamo aria inquinata.^[6][14][8]
5. (transitive, figurative) To sense, to perceive an atmosphere: Nello spogliatoio si respirava paura.^[6][13][16]

Word family

• respirazione
• respiro
• respiratore
• respiratorio
• respirabile
• irrespirabile

Related words

• spirare
• sospirare
• fiatare
• French respirer

Usage notes

The figurative phrase respirare l'aria nativa means to live in, or return to, one's birthplace, and essere come l'aria che si respira means to be indispensable.^[14][15][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3232
8. ^ a b c 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, p. 368
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 834
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 15, 875
13. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli