Etymologically
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rischiare

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Pronunciation

  • /risˈkja.re/[1]

Forms

rischiare (first-person singular present rìschio, first-person singular past historic rischiài, past participle rischiàto, auxiliary avére or (alternatively when impersonal) èssere)[1] The Tuscan variant risicare (16th century) comes from the old variant rìsico of the noun.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Italian rischio + -are, from the noun rischio “risk”.[4][2][5][1] Nocentini dates it to 1314, DELI to Francesco da Barberino (before 1348).[2][4] The noun is a word of medieval trade whose origin is disputed: Nocentini follows the Kahanes in tracing it through Byzantine Greek to Arabic رزق (rizq, “provision, lot”), while others derive it from Latin resecō (“to cut off”).[2][4] Devoto explained the verb directly from an iterative Medieval Latin *reseclare of that verb.[6]

The older arrischiare (before 1274) is formed with the prefix a-.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Francesco da Barberino uses the verb transitively, “to put at risk”: “E rischiar è men male / gli pochi” (and it is a lesser evil to risk the few).[4][7]

Semantic evolution

The intransitive use, “to run the risk (of doing something)”, is dated by DELI only to Palazzi's dictionary of 1939–40, and the impersonal rischia di piovere (it may well rain) is a modern development.[4][5] Tommaseo noted that Tuscan preferred risicare and arrischiare;[7][2][3] risicare now survives in the proverb chi non risica non rosica (nothing ventured, nothing gained).[7][2][3]

By antiphrasis rischiare di vincere means coming close to an unexpected success.[3][8]

Timeline

  • Before 1274 – Arrischiare is recorded.[2]
  • 1314 – Rischiare is first recorded.[2]
  • Before 1348 – Francesco da Barberino uses it for “to put at risk”.[4]
  • 16th century – The Tuscan variant risicare is recorded.[2][3]
  • 1939–1940 – Palazzi records the intransitive “to run the risk”.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To risk, to jeopardize: to expose something to the danger of being lost or harmed; also without object: Ha rischiato tutti i suoi risparmi in quell'affare, con questo tempo è meglio non rischiare.[5][3][9][1]
  2. To face, to narrowly escape something bad: rischiare il posto, to be in danger of losing one's job.[5][3][9]
  3. To run the risk of doing something (with di and an infinitive): Se non ci sbrighiamo rischiamo di perdere il treno.[5][3][10][1]
  4. (impersonal) To be likely, to threaten: rischia di grandinare.[5][3][8][1]
  5. To come close to an unexpected success: rischiare di vincere.[3][8]

Word family

  • arrischiare

Usage notes

Rischiare l'osso del collo means to risk one's neck.[5][3] Impersonal rischiare takes essere or avere.[8][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  8. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  9. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  10. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana