rivedere

Forms

rivedere (first-person singular present rivédo, first-person singular past historic rivìdi, past participle rivìsto or (less popular) rivedùto, first-person singular future rivedrò, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

DELI, GRADIT, Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti take it as borrowed from Latin revideō (“to see again; to revisit”), formed from re- (“again”) and videō (“to see”);^{[2][3][4][5][6]} DELI and the GDLI call it a learned word.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Wiktionary treats it as inherited from the same verb.^[1] Nocentini sees it instead as an Italian formation, from Italian ri- + vedere, and French revoir and Spanish rever as parallel formations made independently.^[7] Devoto speaks of the Latin verb crossed with the Italian prefix, and Prati leaves both possibilities open.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the first record to 1219.^[3] DELI's earliest dated sense is “to check, verify”, in a statute of the commune of Montagutolo of 1280, and before 1292 Bono Giamboni uses it for “to go over again” and, in the reflexive, for people meeting again.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The senses “to examine again in order to correct” (late 13th century, the Novellino) and “to see or meet again” (Dante, 1300–1313, Iacopone before 1306) followed.^[2] Iacopone's blind man begs “Meser, ch'eo revegia luce” (“Lord, that I may see the light again”), and the last line of Dante's Inferno, “E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle” (“and thence we came out to see the stars again”), lies behind rivedere il sole or le stelle, to come out into the open and, figuratively, to be free again.^[6][10][11]

The saying ci rivedremo a Filippi (“we shall meet again at Philippi”) recalls the threat of the evil spirit that appeared to Brutus before his defeat, as Plutarch tells it.^[2] The leave-taking formula a rivederci became the interjection arrivederci (1533), and the proverb chi non muore si rivede greets someone not seen for a long time.^[7][10][3] Rivedere le bucce a qualcuno means to search someone's work for faults;^[2][11] Tommaseo used it in 1846 when a journal called Rivista criticised him.^[2][11]

The noun rivista, from the past participle, first meant the act of looking over something (1618); in the senses “military review” and “periodical” it follows French revue, which took the second from the title of Defoe's English Review.^[2] The adjective rivedibile (1865) was used of a conscript found temporarily unfit and sent back to the next call-up.^[2] Modern uses add rereading to understand or remember (1959) and adjusting prices (1965).^[2]

Timeline

• 1219 – First record.^[3]
• 1280 – “To check, verify” in a statute of Montagutolo.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses “to go over again” and the reflexive “to meet again”.^[2]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses it for revising in order to correct.^[2]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses “to see again”.^[2]
• 1533 – Arrivederci is recorded.^[7]
• 1618 – The noun rivista is recorded.^[2]
• 1865 – Rivedibile appears in a military dictionary.^[2]
• 1959 – The sense “to reread in order to understand or remember” is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To see again: Stasera voglio rivedere quel documentario sugli squali.^[3][4][5]
2. To meet again; also in leave-taking formulas and threats: Speriamo di rivederci prima dell'estate.^[3][4][12]
3. To return to a place after an absence: Dopo dieci anni all'estero ha rivisto il suo paese.^[3][4]
4. To see again in the mind, to recall vividly; to recognise someone in a person who resembles them.^[3][4][13]
5. To get back something lent or lost, usually in the negative.^[3][12]
6. To reread, revise for study: Prima dell'esame rivedo tutti i capitoli.^[3][5][11]
7. To examine again in order to check, correct or change: a text, a contract, an opinion, the accounts.^[3][5][11]
8. To overhaul a machine or an installation.^[11][12][13]
9. (medicine) To examine a patient again.^[3][12]
10. (reciprocal, rivedersi) To meet each other again.^[5][2]

Word family

• arrivederci
• rivista
• rivedibile
• rivedibilità
• riveduta
• riveditore
• rivedimento

Related words

• revisione
• vedere
• Latin revideō
• French revoir

Usage notes

The past participle is rivisto, the usual form in speech and in the sense “seen again”, or riveduto, used mainly in the sense “revised”.^[11][4] The auxiliary is avere.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 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 l m 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 Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 845
10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli