Etymologically
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rifiutare

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Pronunciation

  • /ri.fjuˈta.re/[1]

Forms

rifiutare (first-person singular present rifiùto, first-person singular past historic rifiutài, past participle rifiutàto, auxiliary avére)[1] The old form Old Italian rifutare lacks the ⟨i⟩.[2][3] Battaglia lists old and dialect forms such as refiudare, refudare and rifrutare.[4] Northern dialects keep forms without the ⟨i⟩, such as Venetian refudar.[3]

Etymology

It is the popular outcome, inherited from Latin refūtō (“to check, repel; to refute”), whose ⟨i⟩ is usually put down to the influence of fiutare (“to sniff”).[5][6][7][2][1] DELI calls that influence hard to explain and reports other proposals: Spitzer (1940) suggested Vulgar Latin *refugitāre “to put to flight”, a hunters' word, passing through ⟨refuitare⟩ and ⟨refiutare⟩, and Tilander a *refutulāre beside the classical verb, through ⟨*refutlare⟩ and ⟨*reflutare⟩.[6][4] Sabatini–Coletti call the ⟨i⟩ an inserted vowel of uncertain origin.[8]

The Latin verb is formed with re- (“back”) and a *futō (“to beat”) known only from compounds such as cōnfūtō, of uncertain connections.[6][7][1] The learned refutare is its doublet.[1] French refuser and Spanish rehusar were reshaped after Latin recūsō (“to refuse”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the Novellino, of the late 13th century, in the sense “not to accept”: “Tali rifiutaro, e tai consentiro” (“some refused, and some agreed”).[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses the verb for not bearing or enduring (1313–1319), and in the Purgatorio for giving up something one has: “Libertà va cercando, ch’è sì cara, / come sa chi per lei vita rifiuta” (“He goes seeking freedom, which is so dear, as he knows who gives up life for it”).[6][9] The noun rifiuto “refusal” goes back to Dante too.[6][5]

The sense “to deny, not to grant” appears in the Milanese press of 1801, and was called a Gallicism in 1926;[6] DELI explains that when the purists spoke of French influence on rifiutare they meant these newer senses, modelled on refuser.[6] The reflexive rifiutarsi di “to refuse to” is recorded before 1602, and the sense “not to want to do” in 1891.[6] The plural rifiuti came to mean “rubbish, waste” by 1959.[6]

Specialised senses include a horse that refuses a jump (rifiutare l'ostacolo), a hound that ignores other game, a card player who does not follow a partner's suit, and a wind that shifts against a sailing boat's course.[7][10][11]

Timeline

  • Late 13th century – The Novellino has rifiutaro “they refused”.[6]
  • 1300–1313 – Dante uses the noun rifiuto.[6]
  • 1313–1319 – Dante uses the verb for “not to bear”.[6]
  • Before 1566 – Rifiutabile appears in Annibal Caro.[6]
  • Before 1602 – The reflexive rifiutarsi is recorded.[6]
  • 1801 – The sense “to deny” appears in the Milanese press.[6]
  • 1959 – Rifiuti “rubbish” is recorded.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To refuse or reject what is offered: Ha rifiutato il lavoro che gli avevano proposto.[7][10][8]
  2. To deny, not to grant: Gli hanno rifiutato il visto.[7][10][8]
  3. To be unwilling to do something (followed by di): Ha rifiutato di firmare.[7][10][8]
  4. To be unable to tolerate, of the body: Il suo stomaco rifiuta il latte.[7][10]
  5. (literary) To renounce something one has, or to disown a person or one's own writings.[7][10][12]
  6. (sport) Of a horse, to stop at a fence without jumping it.[10][11][12]
  7. (nautical) Of the wind, to shift against a boat's course.[7][10][11]

Word family

  • rifiuto
  • rifiutabile
  • rifiutatore

Usage notes

Rifiutarsi di “to refuse to” is the usual reflexive construction.[11][8] A separate, rare verb rifiutare “to sniff again” is formed from fiutare with ri- and is recorded in 1872.[7][10][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 839
  3. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  11. ^ a b c d 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