riscrivere

Forms

riscrivere (first-person singular present riscrìvo, first-person singular past historic riscrìssi, past participle riscrìtto, auxiliary avére)^[1] The old form was Old Italian rescrivere.^[2][3]

Etymology

DELI treats it as a learned adaptation: it is borrowed from Latin rescrībō (“to write back; to write again”), formed from re- and scrībō (“to write”), which Cicero already used in the specific sense “to write in reply”.^[2][4][5] Nocentini, Devoto–Oli and Gabrielli instead derive it in Italian from scrivere with the prefix ri-.^[6][7][8]

The Latin participle of the same verb gave the learned rescritto.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the old form rescrivere in Dante, 1283–1292, “to write again, especially in a better form”;^[2] riscrivere itself appears in the first half of the 14th century in Maestro Sanguigno.^[2] The sense “to write in reply” is recorded in the 14th-century Italian Bible.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Tommaseo gives the senses “to write again” and “to copy, transcribe”, the latter with examples from Salviati.^[3] Zingarelli marks the transitive “send a reply in writing” as obsolete, while the intransitive “write back” is still current.^[9]

In the 20th century the verb was taken into linguistics for the rewriting rules of generative grammar, beside the noun riscrittura.^[10][5] The participle riscritto also renders the philologists' Latin codex rescriptus, a manuscript written over an earlier text.^[10]

Timeline

• 1283–1292 – Dante uses the old form rescrivere.^[2]
• 1293–1294 – GRADIT's date of first record.^[5]
• First half of the 14th century – riscrivere appears in Maestro Sanguigno.^[2]
• 14th century – The sense “to write in reply” is recorded in a vernacular Bible.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To rewrite, to write again.^[5][7][4]
2. To write a new version of a text in order to improve it; to revise: Ha riscritto il primo capitolo tre volte.^[5][7][4]
3. To copy or transcribe: riscrivere in bella copia.^[5][7]
4. (intransitive) To write back, to answer someone in writing.^[5][7][9][1]
5. (linguistics) To apply a rewriting rule.^[5][10]

Word family

• riscrittura
• riscritto
• riscrittore
• riscrivibile

Related words

• scrivere
• rescritto
• Latin rescrībō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
9. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)