ricorrere

Forms

ricorrere (first-person singular present ricórro, first-person singular past historic ricórsi, past participle ricórso, auxiliary (intransitive) èssere or (transitive) avére)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian recorrere, Old Italian recurrere and Old Italian ricurrere.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin recurrō (“to run back; to return; to have recourse”), formed from currō (“to run”) with the prefix re- of reverse movement.^{[3][4][5][6][1]} Its past participle recursus was already a noun meaning “return” in classical Latin, and in late legal Latin “appeal”, the source of ricorso.^[3]

The same verb is French recourir, Occitan recorre, Catalan recorrer and Spanish recorrer.^[4][7] The simple verb goes back to Proto-Italic *korse/o- and Proto-Indo-European *kr̥s-e/o- (“to run”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is from G. Faba, before 1243, in the sense “to turn to someone for help”: ad vui […] recurro in le mie necessitade (“I turn to you in my needs”).^[3][2] Giamboni has ricorrere a la sua conscienzia, “to appeal to one's conscience”, before 1292.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense, “to apply to a court or authority”, is recorded in the statute of the Sienese wool guild of 1298–1309.^[3] Dante uses the verb for running back to the starting point, as a child che ricorre / sempre colà dove più si confida (“who always runs back to where he most trusts”, Paradiso 22), and Petrarch in 1374 for returning in thought to a past time.^[3][2]

The sense “to recur at intervals” appears only in 1728, in Salvini, and Ugolini still disliked it in 1848.^[3] From it came ricorrenza (1640), later “anniversary, festivity” (1863).^[3] The phrase corsi e ricorsi, linked with Vico, does not appear in the 1725 edition of his Scienza nuova, which lacks even the noun ricorso; the noun entered the posthumous edition of 1744.^[3] The transitive “to run (a race) again” is recorded from 1939–40.^[3]

Timeline

• Before 1243 – G. Faba uses recurro, “I turn to”.^[3]
• Before 1292 – Giamboni has ricorrere “to appeal to”.^[3]
• 1298–1309 – The legal sense appears in the statute of the Sienese wool guild.^[3]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses the verb for running back.^[3]
• 1374 – Petrarch uses it for returning in time.^[3]
• 1640 – Ricorrenza is recorded.^[3]
• 1728 – Salvini uses ricorrere for “to recur periodically”.^[3]
• 1939–1940 – The transitive sense “to run again” is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To turn to someone for help, advice or a service: Per la traduzione sono ricorsa a una collega.^{[6][9][10][11][1]}
2. (intransitive) To resort to, make use of a means: ricorrere a un prestito.^{[6][9][10][11][1]}
3. (intransitive, law) To appeal to an authority or a higher court;^{[6][11][12][1]} ricorrere in Cassazione, to appeal to the Court of Cassation.^{[6][11][12][1]}
4. (intransitive) Of dates and anniversaries, to fall, come round: Sabato ricorrono i cento anni della scuola.^{[6][10][11][1]}
5. (intransitive) Of themes and ideas, to recur, come up repeatedly.^{[6][10][11][1]}
6. (intransitive, uncommon) To run again; to run back to where one started;^{[6][9][10][13]} (figurative) to go back in thought.^{[6][9][10][13]}
7. (transitive, uncommon) To run a race again.^[11][13][1]

Word family

• ricorrente
• ricorrenza
• ricorso
• ricorrimento

Related words

• correre
• ricorsione
• ricorsivo
• Latin recurrō
• French recourir

Usage notes

It is conjugated like correre; the intransitive takes essere, the transitive avere.^[9][11][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., 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. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)