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rivoltare

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word rivoltare

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1250–1300 second half of the 13th century, Parafrasi del Decalogo More words from the 13th century
Ultimate origin
Latin volvō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Italian voltare
Italian rivoltare
From the same root
English revolt ← rivoltare

Pronunciation

  • /ri.volˈta.re/[1]

Forms

rivoltare (first-person singular present rivòlto, first-person singular past historic rivoltài, past participle rivoltàto, auxiliary avére)[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian ri- + voltare, with the prefix of turning back or doing again.[2][3][4][5][6] The verb voltare continues Vulgar Latin *voltāre, shortened from *volvitāre, which was built on *volvitus, a participle that took the place of classical Latin volūtus, from volvō (“to roll, turn”).[2][3]

The REW set up a separate Vulgar Latin *revolūtāre “to roll”, also behind Lombard reboldà of Bergamo;[7][1] Wiktionary considers this less likely than the Italian formation.[7][1] The old variant ⟨revollare⟩ comes from a crossing with rivolgere.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the Parafrasi del Decalogo, in the second half of the 13th century, with the pronominal rivoltarsi “to rise in revolt”.[2][9] Nocentini dates the verb to the first half of the 14th century, in the sense of rivolgere “to turn”.[3]

Semantic evolution

The reflexive “to turn back, turn round” is in Boccaccio (1348–1353), the sense “to change”, of the weather or of things, in a 14th-century translation of Josephus, and the transitive “to turn over again” in Catherine of Siena before 1380.[2] “To turn inside out” is recorded before 1587 in G. M. Cecchi, and “to turn the stomach, disgust” before 1577 in Mattioli.[2] In music the verb has meant to invert an interval since 1596.[9]

The figurative sense of moral disgust, recorded from 1813, was criticised as a Gallicism: Panzini in 1908 called it an “ugly Frenchism”.[2] French révolter is itself an Italianism, recorded as se revoultrer “to turn round” in 1414, “to rebel” before 1520 and “to fill with indignation” in 1667;[9] English revolt and German revoltieren come from the French.[9] The musical sense was also borrowed, into French in 1703 and German in 1732.[9]

Timeline

  • Second half of the 13th century – Rivoltarsi “to revolt” in the Parafrasi del Decalogo.[2]
  • 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses the reflexive “to turn back”.[2]
  • Before 1380 – Catherine of Siena uses “to turn over again”.[2]
  • 1414 – French se revoultrer is recorded.[9]
  • Before 1577 – Mattioli uses “to disgust”.[2]
  • Before 1587 – G. M. Cecchi uses “to turn inside out”.[2]
  • 1596 – The musical sense “to invert” is recorded.[9]
  • 1813 – The sense “to cause moral disgust” is recorded.[2]
  • 1908 – Panzini calls this sense a Gallicism.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To turn over again or to the other side: rivoltare la frittata nella padella; of a garment, to turn the cloth inside out to renew it.[4][5][10]
  2. To turn upside down: rivoltare una bottiglia.[4][5]
  3. To turn over repeatedly, toss or stir: rivoltare il fieno.[4][11]
  4. To disgust or nauseate; also used without an object.[4][10][12]
  5. (figurative) To incite to revolt.[4][10][12]
  6. To change something into its opposite.[4][10]
  7. (figurative) To shift something elsewhere, such as blame onto another person.[4][12]
  8. (music) To invert notes or chords.[4]
  9. rivoltare come un calzino: to examine thoroughly, or to scold severely.[5][13]

Pronominal verb

  1. rivoltarsi: to rebel or rise up; to turn on someone; to turn round; of the stomach, to heave.[10][12][11]

Word family

  • rivoltante
  • rivoltato
  • rivoltatura
  • rivoltamento
  • rivoltata

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 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 16
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  10. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  11. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
  12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
Cite this entry

“Rivoltare.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/it/rivoltare. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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