risolvere

Forms

risolvere (first-person singular present risòlvo, first-person singular past historic risòlsi, past participle risòlto, auxiliary avére)^[1] The old form is Old Italian resolvere, with Old Italian resolvare and Old Italian rissolvere.^[2][3] Beside the usual past participle risolto, risoluto survives mainly as an adjective, “resolute”.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin resolvere (“to loosen, dissolve; to unravel, explain”), made of re- and solvō (“to loosen, release”).^[4][6][7][2] Wiktionary allows that it may be a semi-learned borrowing.^[1] Devoto explains that the prefix, through its sense of repetition, came to mean that the loosening was final and conclusive.^[8] The same Latin verb gave French résoudre, Spanish resolver and Portuguese resolver.^[6][9]

Latin solvō is itself a compound of a prefix sē- (“apart, away”) and luō (“to loosen”), from Proto-Indo-European *leuH-.^[10] From the Latin past participle resolūtus Italian has risoluto, which became an adjective with its own sense beside the ordinary participle risolto, as assoluto stands beside assolto.^[4] Risoluzione is Late Latin resolūtiō.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the Italian translation of Palladius's treatise on agriculture, about 1340, in the physical sense “to dissolve in a liquid”;^[4][7] GRADIT dates the verb about 1340 in the sense “to break down into its parts, dissolve”.^[4][7] Medieval texts use it for the sun turning moisture into vapour, as the Composizione del mondo of Restoro d'Arezzo has the heat of the sun “resolve” the moisture of the earth.^[2] Before 1336 Cenne da la Chitarra already used the intransitive verb for sweating.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Dante's Purgatorio uses resolvere for washing away the scum of a guilty conscience.^[11] By the end of the 15th century the verb meant dissolving a tension or untying a difficulty (Filenio Gallo, before 1503), and Giovanni Pontano, also before 1503, used the pronominal risolversi for making up one's mind after hesitation.^[4] Pietro Andrea Mattioli used it in medicine (1550–1568) for helping an illness to clear, and Galileo for breaking a thing into parts.^[4] In Boccaccio a potion promises to “resolve everything” in three mornings, and Giovanni Villani says that a pope's whole body was dissolved by a flux.^[12]

The political sense “to resolve, decide by vote” appears in 1798 in a list of new words in the Monitore cisalpino: DELI ties it to French résolution, one of the key words of the Revolution.^[4] The phrases risolvere un problema “to find the solutions of a problem” and risolvere un contratto “to cancel a contract with retroactive effect” are recorded in Palazzi's dictionary of 1939–1940.^[4] In music a dissonant chord risolve when it moves to a consonance.^[7][13]

Timeline

• Before 1336 – Cenne da la Chitarra uses the intransitive verb for sweating.^[4]
• c. 1340 – The Italian Palladius uses risolvere “to dissolve”.^[4][7]
• c. 1350 – Risoluzione appears in the Italian Crescenzi.^[4]
• Before 1503 – Filenio Gallo uses it for untying a difficulty, and Pontano uses risolversi “to make up one's mind”.^[4]
• 1506 – Risoluto “resolute” is recorded in Vincenzo Querini and Machiavelli.^[4]
• Before 1642 – Galileo uses it for breaking a thing into its parts.^[4]
• 1798 – The sense “to decide formally” is listed among new words in the Monitore cisalpino.^[4]
• 1939–1940 – Palazzi records risolvere un problema and risolvere un contratto.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To settle or clear up a doubt, dispute or tangled question: Gli avvocati hanno risolto la lite in pochi giorni.^[7][3][5]
2. To solve, find the answer to a riddle, puzzle or equation: Nessuno in classe riuscì a risolvere l'esercizio.^[7][3][11]
3. To deal with a practical problem, sort it out: Con qualche telefonata ha risolto tutto.^[7][3]
4. To decide, especially officially: Il consiglio risolse di rinviare la seduta.^[7][5][13]
5. (chemistry, uncommon) To break down into its elements; to dissolve.^[7][5][11]
6. (law) To rescind a contract.^[7][13][11]
7. (music, intransitive) Of a dissonant note or chord, to resolve into a consonant one.^[7][11][1]
8. (medicine) To bring an illness to its cure.^[13][14]
9. (risolversi) To make up one's mind: Alla fine si risolse a chiedere aiuto.^[5][13]
10. (risolversi) To turn out, end up: La faccenda si è risolta in niente.^[5][13]

Word family

• risolto
• risoluto
• risoluzione
• risolutivo
• risolutore
• risolutezza
• risolvibile
• risolubile
• irrisolto
• irresoluto
• irresolubile

Related words

• risolutorio
• risolvimento
• assolvere
• dissolvere
• sciogliere
• Latin resolvo
• French résoudre

Usage notes

The past historic has three forms, risolsi (the most common), risolvei and risolvetti.^[11][3] In slang the verb can also mean to buy drugs.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 831
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 375
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d e f Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli