Etymologically
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rispondere

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Pronunciation

  • /risˈpon.de.re/[1]

Forms

rispondere (first-person singular present rispóndo, first-person singular past historic rispósi, past participle rispósto, auxiliary avére)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin respŏndere (“to answer”), the Late Latin form of the classical verb, which had a long /ē/ in the infinitive and moved to the third conjugation;[2][3][4][1] DELI dates the new form to the 4th century, in the veterinary treatise of Chiron.[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb is formed with re- (“back, again”) on spondeō (“to promise solemnly”);[5][2][3] Nocentini describes it as a term of religious language, originally “to promise in return, to bind oneself in reply”.[5][2][3] Already in Latin it meant “to echo”, as in Cicero's “saxa respondent voci” (the rocks answer the voice), and in Columella “to yield a crop”.[2]

The verb is found in every Romance language: French répondre, Occitan respondre, Catalan responder, Spanish responder, Portuguese responder and Romanian răspunde.[5][6][7] The DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance verb meaning “to answer”, “to correspond” and “to be responsible”, and argues that the abstract senses are secondary because Sardinian lacks them.[7]

De Vaan traces Latin spondeō to Proto-Italic *spondeje/o-, from Proto-Indo-European *spond-éye- (“to pour a libation”), cognate with Hittite išpānt- (“to libate”) and Ancient Greek σπένδω (spéndō, “to pour a libation”).[8] The same verb is behind sposo, responsabile and responso.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in the Ritmo laurenziano, of the late 12th or early 13th century, with the sense “to speak in turn to someone who has asked a question; to reply to a speech or a letter”.[2] GRADIT dates the word to 1219.[3]

Semantic evolution

Most of the figurative senses were in place by the 14th century.[2] Dante uses the verb for making one action follow another in response and for satisfying a wish; a Florentine text of 1277 uses it for being bound to someone; the Italian version of Crescenzi (about 1350) has “to correspond”; and Petrarch (1374) has “to obey an impulse or command”.[2] The transitive use, “to say in reply”, is in the Novellino at the end of the 13th century.[2]

Later centuries added “to retort” (Filippo Sassetti, 1587), “to face, open onto” (Alessandro Piccolomini, 1545), “to follow suit” at cards (Lorenzo Lippi, before 1665) and “to be answerable” (1812).[2] Commenting on Lippi in 1688, Paolo Minucci explained rispondere per le rime “to reply in kind” as an image taken from poetry.[2]

The noun risposta is the feminine of the past participle; in fencing it named the return thrust after a parry (1553), and French borrowed it as riposte.[2][6] An older noun, risponsione, from Latin, was common in the earliest writers.[2]

Timeline

  • Late 12th or early 13th century – The Ritmo laurenziano has rispondere.[2]
  • 1219 – GRADIT's date for the word.[3]
  • 1277 – A Florentine text uses it for being bound to someone.[2]
  • Late 13th century – The Novellino uses it transitively.[2]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses it for answering with an action.[2]
  • 1374 – Petrarch uses it for obeying an impulse.[2]
  • 1553 – Risposta names a fencing riposte.[2]
  • 1587 – Filippo Sassetti uses it for retorting.[2]
  • 1812 – The sense “to be answerable” is recorded.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To answer, reply to a person, a question or a letter, with a: Mi ha risposto con una lunga lettera.[3][9][1]
  2. To answer back, retort rudely: Non rispondere così a tua nonna![3][9][4]
  3. To respond with a gesture or an action; to answer the telephone or the door; to return fire.[3][9][10]
  4. To meet, correspond to expectations or needs: Il nuovo modello non risponde alle nostre esigenze.[4][10][1]
  5. To be responsible, answer for, with di: Rispondo io della sua onestà.[1][10][11]
  6. Of a pain, to be felt in another part of the body.[4]
  7. (cards) To follow suit.[3][2]
  8. (uncommon) To face, open onto a place.[4][2]
  9. Transitively, to say in reply: Ha risposto che sarebbe venuto.[1][2]

Word family

  • risposta
  • rispondente
  • rispondenza
  • corrispondere

Usage notes

The past historic is risposi (old rispuosi) and the past participle risposto.[9][4] Set phrases include rispondere per le rime “to reply in kind” and rispondere picche “to refuse flatly”.[3] The proverb il domandare è lecito, il rispondere è cortesia means that anyone may ask, but an answer is a courtesy, not a right.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  5. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  7. ^ a b Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
  8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  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 c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana