sapere

Forms

sapere (first-person singular present (with syntactic gemination after the verb) sò, first-person singular past historic sèppi, past participle sapùto, first-person singular future saprò, first-person singular subjunctive sàppia, second-person singular imperative sàppi, auxiliary avére or (as an auxiliary, with main verbs taking essere) èssere)^[1] The old and dialect form is Old Italian savere.^[2][3][4] Old and southern present forms include saccio, sappo and sao “I know” and sacciono “they know”.^[2][5][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *sapēre, the spoken Latin form, with a second-conjugation infinitive, of classical Latin sapere (“to taste, have a flavour; to be wise”).^[6][7][1][4] In Late and spoken Latin the verb became transitive with the meaning “know” and displaced sciō (“to know”), which survives only in Romanian and Sardinian.^[6][3] Old Italian also had savere, with v.^[2][3][8]

The same verb is French savoir, Occitan saber, Catalan saber, Spanish saber and Portuguese saber, and Dalmatian sapar.^[7][9]

Latin “sapiō” continues Proto-Italic *sapjō, usually traced to Proto-Indo-European *seh₁p- (“to notice”), though the laryngeal is uncertain.^[10][1] It has few but secure cognates: Oscan sipus (“knowing”), Old Saxon ansebbian (“to notice”) and Old Norse sefi (“mind, thought”).^[7][10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is in the oldest Italian text, the Placito capuano of 960, a sworn statement in a dispute over land: Sao ko kelle terre, per kelle fini que ki contene, trenta anni le possette parte sancti Benedicti, “I know that those lands, within the bounds described here, were held for thirty years by the party of Saint Benedict”.^[6][12][13] The sense is “know a particular fact”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The intransitive senses kept the Latin meaning of taste: “have a flavour” is recorded before 1292 in Bono Giamboni, and “give a certain impression” before 1342 in Domenico Cavalca.^[6] The sense “possess knowledge learned by study” appears in the 14th-century Italian Seneca.^[6]

The infinitive became a noun, il sapere “knowledge”, first in Guittone d'Arezzo before 1294.^[6][13] In the poetry of courtly love savere named the qualities of mind of those who lived by love's laws, as in Dante's question or che è più bello in donna che savere? (“what is more beautiful in a lady than wisdom?”).^[13][2] Modern pedagogy uses the plural i saperi for the fields of knowledge.^[2][5]

The participle saputo “known” is recorded in the late 12th century; by 1538 it also meant “know-it-all”, and the diminutive saputello followed in 1664.^[6] All'insaputa di “without the knowledge of” (1812) was modelled on French à l'insu de.^[7]

Timeline

• 960 – Sao “I know” in the Placito capuano.^[6][13]
• Late 12th century – Saputo “known” in the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio.^[6]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses sapere for “have a flavour”.^[6]
• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses the noun sapere “knowledge”.^[6]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses sapere for “give an impression”.^[6]
• 1538 – Saputo is recorded for “know-it-all”.^[6]
• 1664 – Paolo Segneri uses saputello.^[6]
• 1812 – Insaputa is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To know a fact, be informed of something; to learn of it, hear about it: Hai saputo che Luca si è sposato?^[13][5][1]
2. To know something learned by study, practice or memory: sapere il tedesco, sapere una poesia a memoria.^[2][5][14]
3. With an infinitive, to know how to, be able to: Sai nuotare?^[1]
4. (intransitive, with di) To taste or smell of: Quest'acqua sa di cloro.^[6][1]
5. (intransitive, with di) To give the impression of, smack of: un discorso che sa di scusa.^[6][1]
6. (impersonal) mi sa che, I have a feeling that: Mi sa che domani piove.^[1]

Noun

1. knowledge, learning: the body of knowledge someone has, or that humanity has gathered: il sapere scientifico.^[13][2][5]
2. (plural) In pedagogy, the fields of knowledge: i nuovi saperi.^[2][5]
3. (literary) In medieval courtly poetry, the qualities of mind and conduct of a noble soul.^[13][2]

Word family

• saputo
• saputello
• saputa
• insaputa
• risapere
• risaputo

Related words

• sapido
• sapienza
• sapore
• sapiente
• saggio
• saccente
• consapevole
• Latin sapiō
• French savoir

Usage notes

The present forms so and sa are written without an accent.^[14] Many fixed phrases are built on the verb, such as non sapere che pesci pigliare “not know which way to turn” and saperla lunga “know a thing or two”.^[13][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
4. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 872
5. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
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. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 386
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 17, 545
13. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli