ridurre

Forms

ridurre (first-person singular present ridùco, first-person singular past historic ridùssi, past participle ridótto, first-person singular imperfect riducévo, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin redūcō (“to lead back”), formed from re- (“back”) and dūcō (“to lead”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb also meant “to give a form to, reduce”.^[3] Its infinitive lost the inner vowel, as in condurre and indurre, and joined the infinitives ending in ⟨-rre⟩ such as trarre.^[5] Older forms are Old Italian riducere, Old Italian reducere and Old Italian redurre, and Old Italian redugere in a 13th-century Genoese text.^[2][6]

The same word is French réduire, Occitan reduire, Spanish reducir, Portuguese reduzir and Romanian arăduce.^[3][7] The verb for “to lead” goes back to Proto-Indo-European *deuk- (“to draw”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Anonimo Genovese has redugere in the 13th century, and Dante reducere (1300–1313); the form ridurre is first in Giovanni Villani, before 1348.^[2] The first sense is “to bring back to the starting point or to the proper place”, often figurative.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio, before 1375, uses the verb for making something smaller or shorter, now the main sense, and in 1348–53 for forcing someone to act in a certain way.^[2] The reflexive ridursi “to take refuge” is in Villani, and “to fall into a worse state” in Sercambi (before 1424).^[2] Technical senses followed: in chemistry before 1537 (Biringuccio), in mathematics before 1572 (Cosimo Bartoli).^[2]

The sense “to take refuge, gather” lies behind the noun ridotto, a gathering place, a gaming house, and since Pietro Chiari (1771) the foyer of a theatre.^[2][10]

Timeline

• 13th century – The Anonimo Genovese uses redugere.^[2]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses reducere.^[2]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses ridurre “to bring back”.^[2]
• Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses it for making smaller.^[2]
• Before 1537 – Biringuccio uses it in chemistry.^[2]
• Before 1572 – Cosimo Bartoli uses it in mathematics.^[2]
• 1771 – Pietro Chiari uses ridotto for a theatre foyer.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make smaller, reduce in size: ridurre una mappa; to take in a garment.^[4][11]
2. (cooking) To thicken a sauce or stock by boiling.^[4]
3. To lower in number, amount or degree; to limit: ridurre le uscite.^[4][11][12]
4. (mathematics) To simplify an expression.^[4][2]
5. (nautical) To take in sail.^[4][11]
6. To turn into another form: ridurre in briciole; to bring into a condition, usually a bad one: ridurre in miseria.^[4][11]
7. To force someone into a course of action.^[4][2]
8. (chemistry) To subject a substance to reduction.^[2][13]
9. (archaic) To lead back.^[2][6]

Word family

• ridotto
• ridotta
• riduzione
• riduttore
• riducibile
• riduttivo
• riduzionismo
• riducente

Related words

• condurre
• Latin redūcō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
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. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
10. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 838
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. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org