rovistare

Forms

rovistare (first-person singular present rovìsto, first-person singular past historic rovistài, past participle rovistàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin revīsitāre (“to visit again”), formed from re- with an iterative sense and visitō (“to see often, inspect”).^[2][3][4][1] Several dictionaries describe the Latin verb as the intensive of revīsō (“to come back to see”), itself from the same prefix and vīsō (“to look at closely”).^[2][5][6] Italian visitare continues the same Latin verb as a learned word.^[3]

Outside Italy the verb survives in Old French revisder and Old Occitan revisdar, the latter with a sense Meyer-Lübke glossed, with a query, as “to revive”.^[7][8] Meyer-Lübke considered Spanish revistar and Portuguese revistar “to review a case” a new formation rather than the same inheritance.^[7]

The unstressed vowel next to the stress was lost, and the ⟨re-⟩ of the prefix became ⟨ro-⟩ before the labial ⟨v⟩, as often in Tuscan (dovere, rovesciare).^[9][3] Tommaseo accepted the Latin source but thought the first syllable also had an imitative sound.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the sermons of Giordano da Pisa, who died in 1311, where the verb means to search everywhere, turning things over and making noise and disorder: a woman sweeps the house and goes “rummaging in the corners” (se la viene rovistando per li cantoni) and finds much more.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

The core sense has stayed the same: searching a place thoroughly and turning it upside down.^[11][4] Old and Tuscan variants include ravistare (in Leon Battista Alberti), ruvistare and rovistiare.^[11][10] Luca Pulci used a frequentative rovistolare in the 15th century, and Lorenzo Lippi rovistiare “to roll over” in 1676.^[8][12]

From the 19th century the object can be books and papers: Tommaseo records rovistare biblioteche, to ransack libraries for documents.^[10] The verb is used both transitively (searching a house, the drawers) and intransitively with in or tra (searching in a bag, among papers).^[4][13][5] Prati links the Sicilian and Messinese fishing nets ravastina and ravistina with the same Latin verb.^[12]

Timeline

• Before 1311 – Giordano da Pisa uses rovistare in his sermons.^[2][4]
• 15th century – Luca Pulci uses the frequentative rovistolare.^[8]
• 1676 – Lorenzo Lippi has the variant rovistiare.^[8]
• 18th century – the noun rovistio is recorded.^[8]
• 19th century – rovistatore and rovistatrice, one who rummages, appear.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To ransack a place, turning it upside down while searching for something: Ha rovistato tutto il garage senza trovare le chiavi.^[4][13][14]
2. (intransitive) To rummage or search carefully in or among things: rovistare nella borsa, rovistare tra le lettere.^[4][5][1]

Word family

• rovistio
• rovistatore
• rovistamento

Related words

• visitare
• rivisitare
• Latin revisito

Usage notes

Rovistare is close to frugare, and Tommaseo also gives trambustare and rifrustare for the same action.^[6][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3290
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d e Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 17, 178
12. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 855
13. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli