riguardare

Forms

riguardare (first-person singular present riguàrdo, first-person singular past historic riguardài, past participle riguardàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian ri- + guardare, with the intensive prefix.^[2][3][4][1] Compare French regarder.^[1] The noun riguardo was formed from it.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Rinaldo d'Aquino, at the end of the 12th century, in the rare sense “to look at attentively or intently”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Dante has the verb for “to look at again” in the Commedia (1300–1313) and for “to consider, regard as” before 1321; the sense “to concern”, used of a thing, is in Boccaccio before 1375.^[2] “To guard with care” is in Giovanni di Pagolo Morelli before 1444, and the reflexive “to take care of oneself” in Marin Sanudo before 1536.^[2] Petrocchi records “to look after one's health” in 1891.^[2] The noun riguardo followed the same path, from “look” and “care” to “respect” and “relation”.^[2]

Today the commonest use is “to concern”, especially in per quanto riguarda, “as regards”.^[4]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – Rinaldo d'Aquino uses riguardare “to look at intently”.^[2]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses it for “to look at again”.^[2]
• Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses it for “to concern”.^[2]
• Before 1444 – Giovanni di Pagolo Morelli uses it for “to guard with care”.^[2]
• Before 1536 – The reflexive “to take care of oneself” in Marin Sanudo.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To concern, to have to do with; to involve: Sono affari che riguardano soltanto la famiglia.^[4][1]
2. Of a text or talk, to deal with as its subject: Il convegno riguarda la storia del Novecento.^[4][1]
3. To look at again; to look over, check: Prima di consegnare, riguarda bene i conti.^[4][1]
4. To look back at: Si voltò a riguardare la casa..^[4]
5. To look after, take care of.^[1][2]
6. riguardarsi: to take care of oneself, of one's health: Riguardati, con questo freddo!^[2][1]

Word family

• riguardo
• riguardoso
• riguardata

Related words

• guardare

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET