Etymologically
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riferire

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Pronunciation

  • /ri.feˈri.re/[1]

Forms

riferire (first-person singular present riferìsco, first-person singular past historic riferìi, past participle riferìto, auxiliary avére)[1] Old forms include referire, refferire, reverire and rivirire; the old and literary past participle referto survives as a noun.[2][3]

Etymology

It is a learned adaptation, borrowed from Latin referre (“to bring back; to report”), a compound of re- (“back, again”) and ferō (“to carry”).[4][5][6][7] The Latin verb was moved to the Italian “-ire” conjugation on the model of other verbs from compounds of ferō, such as conferire, deferire and inferire;[4][8][2] Devoto also thought of the influence of offrire and soffrire.[8] Latin referō meant both “to carry back” and “to give an account, to report, to put to a vote”, and also gave Italian referendum, referto, relazione and relativo.[5] The same verb is French référer and Spanish referir.[5]

Latin ferō goes back to Proto-Italic *fere- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to carry”), the source of Ancient Greek φέρω (phérō) and Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌽 (bairan).[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's earliest dated use is the pronominal riferirsi “to be related to” in Bono Giamboni's Vizi e virtù (before 1292).[4] The transitive sense “to repeat facts, news or words to others” is in the 14th-century translation of the life of Saint Jerome, where the monks come home and report what they found to Jerome;[4][10][11][7] Zingarelli and Sabatini–Coletti date the verb to the 13th century.[4][10][11][7]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to ascribe something to a beginning or principle” is in Alberto della Piagentina (before 1332), and Iacopone has the old form rivirire.[4][2] Giovanni Della Casa (before 1556) uses riferirsi for “to allude”, and Donato Giannotti (before 1573) the intransitive riferire “to make a report”, especially on matters within one's own responsibility.[4] The archaic riferire grazie meant “to give thanks”.[12][11][3] In 1848 Ugolini distinguished it as retelling what one has heard or seen, or setting down in writing something neither heard nor seen.[4]

The noun riferimento appears in 1547 (Claudio Tolomei) for “relation, connection”; the bureaucratic in riferimento a and punto di riferimento “landmark, point of reference” are in Palazzi's dictionary of 1939–1940.[4] Riferibile dates from 1673 and irriferibile “unrepeatable” from 1970.[4][5] In everyday use the verb also has the colour of telling tales: andare a riferire is to report something to a superior behind someone's back.[6][3]

Timeline

  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni has riferirsi “to be related to”.[4]
  • Before 1332 – Alberto della Piagentina uses riferire for “to ascribe”.[4]
  • 14th century – The translation of the life of Saint Jerome has it for “to report”.[4]
  • 1547 – Claudio Tolomei has riferimento.[4]
  • Before 1556 – Giovanni Della Casa uses riferirsi for “to allude”.[4]
  • Before 1573 – Donato Giannotti uses it for “to make a report”.[4]
  • 1673 – Riferibile is recorded.[4]
  • 1939–1940 – Punto di riferimento is in Palazzi's dictionary.[4]
  • 1970 – Irriferibile is recorded.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To report, to pass on to others what one knows: Mi ha riferito tutto quello che si sono detti.[6][12][7]
  2. To repeat indiscreetly, to tell on: Qualcuno ha riferito la cosa al preside.[6][3]
  3. (intransitive) To make a report, especially as part of one's duties: Il ministro riferirà domani in Parlamento.[6][12][11]
  4. To ascribe, to attribute, to relate (one thing to another).[6][12][7]
  5. (science) To refer (a quantity) to a system of reference.[6]

Pronominal verb

  1. Riferirsi a: to refer to, to allude to: Non parlavo di te, mi riferivo a tuo fratello.[12][7][11]
  2. Riferirsi a: to concern, to relate to: Questi dati si riferiscono all'anno scorso.[12][7][13]

Word family

  • riferimento
  • riferibile
  • irriferibile

Usage notes

A rare homograph riferire means “to wound again”: Gabrielli and GRADIT derive it from ferire with ri-, Zingarelli from Latin referire (c. 1250, with the old form rifedire); GDLI quotes it from Mostacci and Boccaccio.[6][3][11][14]

References

  1. ^ a b 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, p. 16, 247
  3. ^ a b c d e Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  8. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ 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 Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  11. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  12. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 16, 249