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salutare

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Italian has two words spelled salutare: an adjective “healthy, beneficial”, a learned borrowing from Latin salūtāris, and a verb “to greet”, inherited from Latin salūtāre.[1][2][3] DELI, Nocentini and GRADIT number the adjective 1 and the verb 2.[1][2][3]

salutare1 healthy

Pronunciation

  • /sa.luˈta.re/[4]

Forms

salutare m or f by sense (plural salutari)[4]

Etymology

The adjective is borrowed from Latin salūtāris (“healthful; saving”), a learned word, from salūs (“health; safety”), the source of salute.[1][2][3][5][6] The Latin noun is related to salvus (“safe, sound”).[1] In Late and Medieval Latin the neuter salūtāre also meant “salvation”, and the adjective was a name of the Saviour.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Iacopo Passavanti (1354), in the sense “that saves from dangers”; the sense “health-giving, good for the health” is first recorded in Cristoforo Landino (1476).[1][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the word also served as a noun for the Saviour, in Cavalca.[8] Older Italian called medicine l'arte salutare.[9][10] Lawyers called certain clauses salutari, and Tommaseo refers to the sanatoria.[9] Today it is used of what is good for health, a climate or a cure, and figuratively of a lesson or a warning that helps.[3][11][12]

Timeline

  • 1354 – Passavanti uses salutare “saving from danger”.[1]
  • 1476 – Cristoforo Landino uses it for “health-giving”.[1]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Healthful, good for the health, having healing properties: un'aria salutare.[3][11][12]
  2. (figurative) Useful, beneficial, that helps one to reach a good result or to mend one's ways: Quella bocciatura è stata una lezione salutare.[3][11][5]

Word family

  • salutarmente

salutare2 to greet

Pronunciation

  • /sa.luˈta.re/[4]

Forms

salutare (first-person singular present salùto, first-person singular past historic salutài, past participle salutàto, auxiliary avére)[4]

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Latin salūtō (“to greet; to wish health; to visit”), from salūs (“health, safety”).[1][2][3][12] The Latin verb is recorded throughout antiquity, from Naevius on, and every Romance branch except Vegliote continues it, so DÉRom reconstructs */saˈlut-a-/ for Proto-Romance.[13] The same verb is French saluer, Occitan saludar, Catalan saludar, Spanish saludar, Portuguese saudar and Sardinian saludare; Romanian săruta means “to kiss”, and Old Spanish too had that sense.[2][14][15]

Benveniste explained the Latin verb as delocutive, “to wish someone health by saying the word”;[1] DELI notes doubts about this, since Latin does not seem to have had such a greeting, with Mignot and Létoublon.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Bono Giamboni's Libro de' vizî e delle virtudi (before 1292), for greeting someone one meets or leaves, and the reflexive salutarsi “to greet each other” is in the same text.[1] The Novellino has the verb at the end of the 13th century.[1]

Semantic evolution

In the early lyric, Sicilian and stilnovo poetry above all, the lady's greeting was also her “health”, the salvation and courtesy her look gave the lover.[7] Dante's sonnet in the Vita nuova begins “Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare / la donna mia quand'ella altrui saluta” (“So gentle and so honest my lady seems when she greets others”).[7] Old Italian also used the infinitive as a noun, il salutare “the greeting”, which Dante says contained all his bliss.[9][15]

The sense “to proclaim, to hail as” is in Boccaccio (1348–1353), and “to welcome with joy or applause” in Annibal Caro (before 1566).[1] The noun saluto is a deverbal noun of the verb; the closing formula cordiali saluti in letters is recent.[1] The military salute, with the right hand raised to the peak of the cap, is recorded from 1864.[1]

Timeline

  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses salutare and salutarsi.[1]
  • 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for “to proclaim, to hail”.[1]
  • Before 1566 – Annibal Caro uses it for “to welcome with joy”.[1]
  • 1864 – Saluto militare is recorded in Guerrazzi.[1]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To greet someone one meets, with words or gestures of friendship or respect: Mi ha salutato con un cenno della mano.[3][11][12]
  2. To say goodbye to someone, to take one's leave: Siamo andati all'aeroporto a salutarla.[3][5][4]
  3. To give someone's regards to a third person: Salutami tuo fratello.[3][11][5]
  4. (military) To salute in the regulation way: salutare la bandiera.[3][12][16]
  5. To pay a short visit to someone: Domani passo a salutarvi.[3][12][16]
  6. (figurative) To leave an activity, a place or a person for good: Dopo vent'anni ha salutato il calcio.[3][11]
  7. To welcome with applause, joy or disapproval: La squadra è stata salutata da un lungo applauso.[12][16][5]
  8. (literary) To acclaim someone as holder of an office.[12][1]

Word family

  • saluto
  • risalutare
  • salutamento

Usage notes

Ti saluto! or vi saluto! is a curt way to end a conversation or to walk off;[3][5][10] e ti saluto! expresses resignation at a loss.[3][5][10] The proverb salutare è cortesia, rendere il saluto è obbligo says that greeting is courtesy but returning a greeting is a duty.[16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  2. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  4. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3325
  9. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  10. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  11. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  13. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
  14. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  15. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3324
  16. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana