rotare

Forms

rotare (first-person singular present ruòto, first-person singular past historic rotài, past participle rotàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin rotāre (“to turn round like a wheel”), formed from rota (“wheel”).^[2][3][1][4] Devoto notes that the Latin verb moved from a causative sense, “to make turn”, to the intransitive “to turn”.^[5] The verb is found across western Romance: Old Occitan rodar, Catalan rodar, Spanish rodar and Portuguese rodar.^[6][4] Old Provençal rodar also meant “to roam”, and Meyer-Lübke derives French rôder from it.^[4]

Latin rota has cognates elsewhere in Indo-European, such as Old High German rad (“wheel”).^[2] De Vaan derives it from an adjective Proto-Indo-European *Hrot-o- (“revolving”), formed to a verb meaning to run or roll.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the works of Bono Giamboni, from before 1292: in his Vizi e virtù the verb is intransitive and means to move round in a circle, and he also uses it transitively, to whirl something round.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In the Commedia (1300–1313) Dante uses the verb for birds flying in wide circles.^[3] Petrarch has the Great Bear wheeling its rays in the north (Rotava i raggi suoi lucente e bella), and the verb was used of fortune turning: La ventura rota (“fortune turns”).^[8] In the 14th century DEI also records it for sharpening a blade, the sense of arrotare.^[6]

The present tense has the diphthong of ruota (ruòto), and the diphthongised form ruotare is now the commoner one throughout the conjugation.^[1][9] Today ruotare is the usual form, and rotare is a popular or literary variant; only the present participle rotante is still commoner than ruotante.^[9][10][11]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses rotare intransitively and transitively.^[3]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses the present participle rotante.^[3]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses the verb for flying in wide circles.^[3]
• 14th century – Rotare is recorded for sharpening a blade.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, literary) To rotate, turn round like a wheel (ruota); to circle in flight; a variant of ruotare: Il falco rotava sopra la valle.^{[3][10][9][1]}
2. (transitive, literary) To whirl or swing something round, often fast and with force: Rotava la spada sopra la testa.^[3][9]

Word family

• rotante
• rotazione
• rotabile
• rotatorio
• rotativo

Related words

• ruota
• ruotare
• arrotare
• rotondo
• Latin rota

Usage notes

Most dictionaries treat rotare as a variant of ruotare and define it there.^{[10][12][11][13]} The present participle rotante is still commoner than ruotante.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3287
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ 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)
10. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana