respiro

Forms

respiro m (plural respiri)^[1] An old form is rispiro.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Italian respirare + -o, a noun made from the verb.^[3][4][5][1] The verb continues Latin respīrō (“to recover one's breath”), from re- (“again”) and spīrō (“to breathe”).^[6][7] De Vaan suggests that the Latin verb imitated the sound of breathing; it has no sure cognates.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's oldest record is figurative: “relief, rest” in Battista Guarini, before 1612.^[3][8] The literal “act of breathing” follows in Agostino Mascardi, before 1640, where the palpitation of the heart is called a broken movement “without breath” (senza respiro).^[3][4][2]

Semantic evolution

In 17th-century medical writing the word is used for the frequency of breathing (frequenza di respiro, 1672, Geminiano Montanari).^[3][9] Fino agli ultimi respiri “until death” is recorded in 1650, and fino all'ultimo respiro in Tommaseo–Bellini.^[3]

The sense “pause, interruption” dates from before 1665 (Lorenzo Lippi) and was not well liked by purists.^[3] In commerce respiro became a delay granted for a payment (1686, Sebastiano Foscarini), a use that German borrowed as Respiro in 1806.^[3][10] The figurative sense of breadth or scope, as in un'opera di ampio respiro, is recorded in 1942, when Panzini called it a word overused by men of letters.^[3] Music uses it for a short pause to take breath and for the mark that shows it.^[4][8]

Timeline

• Before 1612 – Battista Guarini uses respiro for relief or rest.^[3]
• Before 1640 – Agostino Mascardi uses it for breathing.^[3]
• Before 1665 – Lorenzo Lippi uses it for a pause.^[3]
• 1686 – Sebastiano Foscarini uses it for a delay in payment.^[3][10]
• 1806 – German Respiro is recorded.^[10]
• 1942 – Panzini records the sense “breadth, scope”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. breathing, respiration: Dopo la corsa aveva il respiro affannoso.^[4][11][5]
2. A single breath: Prima di parlare fece un respiro profondo.^[4][11][12]
3. (figurative) A respite, a break from work or worry: Questo lavoro non mi lascia un attimo di respiro.^[4][5][8]
4. An extension of time, especially for a payment.^[4][11][8]
5. (figurative) Breadth of vision or of conception, especially of a work: un progetto di ampio respiro.^[4][8][12]
6. (music) A short pause for breath, and the apostrophe-shaped sign that marks it on the stave.^[4][5][13]
7. (foundry) A vent in the top of a mould that lets the air out.^[4]

Related words

• respirare
• spirito
• Latin spiro

Usage notes

Set phrases include fino all'ultimo respiro, until death, esalare or mandare l'ultimo respiro, to die, tirare un respiro di sollievo, to breathe a sigh of relief, and togliere or mozzare il respiro, to take one's breath away.^[4][11][12]

References

1. ^ a b c 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, 878
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
8. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
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. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli