salire

Forms

salire (first-person singular present sàlgo, first-person singular past historic salìi, past participle salìto, auxiliary (intransitive) èssere or (transitive) avére)^[1] Old and popular forms include Old Italian saglire, with present saglio, and salisco.^[2][3][4] Old Tuscan and some central dialects have Old Italian sallire, with an unexplained -ll-.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin saliō (“to jump, leap”).^[6][7][8][1] In Italian the sense moved from leaping to climbing; elsewhere the verb kept “to jump” (Romanian sări) or took other senses: French saillir “to jut out”, Occitan sallir and Catalan sallir “to gush”, Spanish salir and Portuguese sair “to go out”.^[7][5][1] DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance verb meaning “to jump; to gush out; to mount”, with cognates in every branch except Sardinian, Dalmatian, Friulian and Ladin.^[9] The forms in ⟨sagl-⟩ come from the palatalised /lj/ of the Latin verb.^[2]

The Latin verb is from Proto-Italic *salje- (“to jump”); its only exact match is Ancient Greek ἅλλομαι (hállomai, “to jump”).^[7][10] Celtic, Sanskrit and Tocharian words are compared too, but de Vaan thinks the shape of the root cannot be fixed.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Ritmo su Sant'Alessio of the early 13th century, in the sense “to go up, to a higher place”.^[6][8]

Semantic evolution

Bonagiunta, before 1257, uses the verb for rising to a better condition, and Dante for a slope that rises (1313–1319) and, transitively, for climbing something: Perché non sali il dilettoso monte?, “why do you not climb the delightful mountain?”^[6][11] Dante also has a noun salire, a way up, in drizzate noi verso li alti saliri, “direct us towards the high ascents”.^[8][12] The sense “to increase” in intensity, number or level is first recorded in the Milanese press of 1826.^[6]

Modern Italian uses salire for getting on a vehicle, for travelling north (salire da Napoli a Torino), and for prices, temperatures and levels that go up.^[8][3][2] The present participle saliente, a learned form, took the senses “projecting” and “important” after French saillant.^[6]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – The Ritmo su Sant'Alessio has salire “to go up”.^[6]
• Before 1257 – Bonagiunta uses it for rising to a better state.^[6]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses it of a rising slope.^[6]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it transitively and as a noun, li alti saliri.^[6][8]
• 1550 – Vasari has saliscendi, a latch.^[6]
• 1826 – The Milanese press uses salire for a rise in level or amount.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To go up, climb, on foot or by some means: Salimmo fino al terzo piano a piedi.^{[8][3][13][1]}
2. To get on a vehicle, board: salire sull’autobus, salire a bordo.^[8][2][1]
3. To rise into the air: Dal camino saliva un filo di fumo.^[8][3][2]
4. To reach a height; of a road, to climb steeply.^[8][2]
5. To move to a place further north.^[8][3]
6. (figurative) To rise to a higher rank or condition: salire al trono.^[8][3]
7. To increase in intensity, number or value: I prezzi della frutta continuano a salire.^[8][2][13]
8. (transitive) To go up something: salire la scalinata della chiesa.^[8][6][4]

Word family

• salita
• saliscendi
• saliente
• risalire
• risalita
• salitore

Related words

• saltare
• Latin saliō
• Spanish salir

Usage notes

Intransitive salire takes essere, transitive salire takes avere.^[1] Phrases include salire in cattedra (to lecture others), salire sul carro del vincitore (to jump on the bandwagon) and salire alle stelle (of prices, to soar).^[8][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 17, 410
13. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli