rinnovare

Forms

rinnovare (first-person singular present rinnòvo, first-person singular past historic rinnovài, past participle rinnovàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Older forms are Old Italian rinovare, Old Italian renovare, Old Italian rinnuovare and Old Italian rinuovare.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin renovāre (“to renew”), formed from novus (“new”) with the prefix re-, which marks the return to an earlier state.^[4][5][6] DELI calls it a learned word.^[4] The prefix was remade as Italian rin-, and several dictionaries see the influence of innovare.^{[7][8][9][3][10]} The Latin derivatives renovātiō and the late Christian renovātor lie behind rinnovazione and rinnovatore, and rinnovo was formed from the verb in Italian.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini, GRADIT and Devoto–Oli date the verb to the end of the 12th century.^[7][5][8] DELI's first record, with the sense “to make new”, is the form rinovare in Bono Giamboni's Vizi e virtù, before 1292;^[4] rinnovare follows in Dante, 1304–1308.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Dante also used the verb for “to do again, repeat” and for “to replace the old with the new”, and the opening of the Inferno speaks of the dark wood che nel pensier rinova la paura (“that renews the fear in my thought”).^[4][3] The pronominal rinnovarsi is recorded before 1350 in the vernacular Crescenzi, “to become new again”, and in Paolo Sarpi, 1607–1618, “to happen again”.^[4]

Later uses are legal and administrative, renewing a contract, a bill of exchange or the members of a council, and the Tuscan sense “to use for the first time”, as a new dress, recorded in 1863.^[4][11][3]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – The verb is first recorded.^[7][5]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses rinovare “to make new”.^[4]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses the verb for “to repeat”.^[4]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses it for “to replace the old with the new”.^[4]
• Before 1324 – Rinnovamento “renewal” appears in Dino Compagni.^[4]
• Before 1350 – Rinnovarsi “to become new again” appears in the vernacular Crescenzi.^[4]
• 1607–1618 – Paolo Sarpi uses rinnovarsi for “to recur”.^[4]
• 1863 – Fanfani records the Tuscan sense “to use for the first time”.^[4]
• 1872 – The noun rinnovo (rinnuovo) is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To repeat, do or say again: rinnovare l'invito; to renew a contract or subscription.^[5][6][11]
2. To renovate, refurbish, modernize: rinnovare la cucina.^[5][8]
3. To reform, make more up to date: rinnovare il regolamento.^[5][8][6]
4. To replace something old with something new; to replace the members of a body such as a council.^[5][8][3]
5. To reinvigorate, revive; to stoke up a fire again.^[5][11]
6. (literary) To revive a feeling or memory.^[5][11]
7. (Tuscany) To use or wear something for the first time.^[11][12][1]
8. (pronominal, rinnovarsi) To become new, modernize; to happen again; to regain strength.^[6][11][3]

Word family

• rinnovabile
• rinnovamento
• rinnovatore
• rinnovazione
• rinnovo

Related words

• nuovo
• innovare
• Latin renovo

Usage notes

The form with the diphthong, rinnuovo, is rare even when the stress falls on the stem.^[8][3][11] Rinnovare l'aria means to air a room.^[5][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d e f g Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 16, 562
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli