ristorare

Forms

ristorare (first-person singular present ristòro, first-person singular past historic ristorài, past participle ristoràto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include restorare and ristolare.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin restaurō (“to restore, rebuild”) in its popular development, specialised in the sense “to refresh, restore the strength of”; the learned doublet is restaurare.^[3][1][4][5] In Latin the verb took over the sense “to renew, repair” from īnstaurō (“to repeat, renew”), whose origin DELI calls wholly obscure.^[6][7] restaurer, Occitan restaurar, Spanish restaurar and Portuguese restaurar are learned forms.^[8]

De Vaan suggests that, if the Latin word is inherited, it reflects Proto-Italic *stauro- (“big, strong”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂u-ro-, to the root *steh₂- (“to stand”), rather than the words for “pole, stake” compared by Walde and Hofmann.^[7] Devoto and Devoto–Oli follow the comparison with Ancient Greek σταυρός (staurós, “stake”) and Germanic, and Devoto notes that the compound lacks the vowel weakening that would have given *resturare.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Chiaro Davanzati, in the 13th century, in the sense “to give relief, restore strength”: se non mi ristorate, io certo pero (“if you do not restore me, I surely perish”).^[6][2] Zingarelli dates the verb to 1266.^[11]

Semantic evolution

In the old language the verb often meant “to compensate, repay, make good a loss”, as in Boccaccio's io son venuta a ristorarti de' danni (“I have come to make good your losses”), and “to restore, rebuild”, as of a city or a church.^[6][12][13] The reflexive ristorarsi “to refresh oneself, rest” is recorded before 1336, and the sense “to feed, refresh with food” is noted by Tommaseo in 1872.^[6] The noun ristoro is derived from the verb.^[6]

The modern words for eating places came through French: ristoratore “restaurant keeper, restaurant” was used before 1834 and condemned as a French word by Molossi, and ristorante, still “a restoring food or drink” for Tommaseo in 1872, took its modern sense after French restaurant by 1877.^[6][3]

Timeline

• 13th century – Chiaro Davanzati uses the verb.^[6]
• Before 1292 – Ristoratore “restoring” is recorded in Bono Giamboni.^[6]
• Before 1336 – The reflexive ristorarsi is recorded.^[6]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio has confetti ristorativi.^[6]
• Before 1400 – Ristoro is recorded.^[6]
• Before 1834 – Ristoratore is used for a restaurant.^[6]
• 1877 – Ristorante “restaurant” is recorded.^[6][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To restore the strength of, to refresh with food or rest; also absolute: Un bagno caldo ristora i muscoli stanchi.^[4][10][11]
2. (transitive, figurative) To comfort, cheer the mind or spirit.^[4][10][13]
3. (transitive, archaic) To restore a building or work of art; to re-establish an order or authority.^[4][10][13]
4. (transitive, archaic) To shore up a weak financial position.^[4][10]
5. (transitive, literary) To compensate, indemnify.^[4][10][13]
6. (reflexive, ristorarsi) To refresh oneself with food, drink or rest: Ci siamo ristorati con un panino e un caffè.^[10][11][13]

Word family

• ristoro
• ristorante
• ristoratore
• ristorativo
• ristorazione
• ristoramento

Related words

• restaurare
• Latin restaurō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 16, 885
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)