Etymologically
Log in

risparmiare

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 20:30. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /ris.parˈmja.re/[1]

Forms

risparmiare (first-person singular present rispàrmio, first-person singular past historic risparmiài, past participle risparmiàto, auxiliary avére)[1] There was also Old Italian risparmare, and the simple verb Old Italian sparmiare was used from the 14th to the 16th century;[2][3][4] Old Lucchese had sparambiare.[2][3][4] The northern form is sparagnare.[5][6]

Etymology

It is from Italian ri- + sparmiare, from the now archaic sparmiare (“to save, spare”).[7][8][1][6] That verb is a medieval Germanic loan: borrowed from Lombardic *sparōn (“to save, spare”), a cognate of Old High German sparōn and German sparen.[5][7][9][1]

The /m/ is the difficulty.[5][6][1] DELI explains that in Gallo-Romance the Germanic verb crossed with Frankish *waidanjan (“to earn”), the source of guadagnare, giving the form Medieval Latin sparniare of the 8th-century Reichenau Glosses, which glosses “non pepercit” (“he did not spare”); this is the source of northern sparagnare.[5][10][1] Following Schiaffini, DELI holds that the Italian verb, confined to a smaller area, was more probably brought into Italy by the Germanic peoples themselves than taken from Gaul.[5] Nocentini instead derives it from Proto-Germanic *sparanjan, with /mj/ as an alternative outcome of /nj/, as in Aretine and Perugian guadammiare beside the standard verb.[6] Devoto thinks the central forms were shaped by armare and then by the Gallo-Romance form.[10] Prati finds the link between sparmiare and sparagnare obscure.[4]

The same Germanic verb is French épargner and Occitan esparnhar, and English spare is a cognate.[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bono Giamboni (before 1292) is DELI's first record, in the absolute sense “to spend little”.[5][7] Prati glosses Giamboni's use as spending with great care and to good effect.[4]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the verb covered not using something up (Boccaccio, 1348–1353), sparing or protecting a person (Boccaccio, about 1336), and granting or not taking away, as in Giovanni Villani (before 1348).[5] The reflexive risparmiarsi “to take care of oneself, of one's health” is in the Tavola Ritonda.[5] Later senses are putting money aside rather than spending it (Guicciardini, before 1540), doing without something (Borghini, before 1580) and not tiring someone (1872).[5] Galileo writes of the miser who goes to his friends' dinners in order to save his own.[2]

The noun risparmio, a back-formation, appears around 1300 in a translation of Albertano da Brescia, which calls saving a remedy for need; in 1551 it is used for the part of income kept for the future, the economic sense of today.[5] Risparmiatore “saver” is from 1618.[5]

Timeline

  • 8th century – The Reichenau Glosses have sparniavit “he spared”.[5]
  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses risparmiare “to spend little”.[5]
  • c. 1300 – Risparmio appears in a translation of Albertano da Brescia.[5]
  • c. 1336 – Boccaccio uses it for sparing a person.[5]
  • 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for not using something up.[5]
  • Before 1540 – Guicciardini uses it for putting money aside.[5]
  • 1551 – Risparmio is used for the saved part of income.[5]
  • 1618 – Risparmiatore is recorded.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To use or consume sparingly, economize on, especially to keep something for later: D'estate bisogna risparmiare l'acqua.[7][9][8]
  2. To use time or strength carefully; not to strain a part of the body: risparmiare le forze, risparmiare la voce.[7][9][11]
  3. To spend less, or avoid spending: Prendendo il treno ho risparmiato venti euro.[7][8][12]
  4. To save money, put it aside (also intransitive): Sta risparmiando per un viaggio in Giappone.[7][12][8]
  5. To spare someone something unpleasant; to avoid doing something: Risparmiami i dettagli.[7][12][11]
  6. Not to overwork a person or animal.[7][9][11]
  7. To spare, not to strike or harm; to spare someone's life: L'incendio ha risparmiato solo la chiesa.[7][8][11]

Word family

  • risparmio
  • risparmiatore
  • risparmiarsi

Usage notes

Risparmia il fiato! is said ironically to someone whose words are wasted.[11][12] The reflexive risparmiarsi means “to spare oneself, to hold back”.[5][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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, 849
  3. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3578
  4. ^ a b c d Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 935
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c d e 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  8. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  9. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  10. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  11. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli