Etymologically
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seguire

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Pronunciation

  • /seˈɡwi.re/[1]

Forms

seguire (first-person singular present séguo or sèguo, first-person singular past historic seguìi, past participle seguìto, auxiliary (transitive) avére or (intransitive) èssere)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *sequīre, the spoken Latin form that replaced the deponent Latin sequor (“to follow”) and moved it into the conjugation in ⟨-ire⟩.[2][3][4][5][1] Nocentini gives the Vulgar Latin form as *sequere, the form REW and Körting also start from.[6][7][8] Devoto explains the ⟨gu⟩ for Latin ⟨qu⟩ as a northern voicing.[9] The same verb is French suivre, Occitan segre, Catalan seguir, Spanish seguir and Portuguese seguir.[6][7][8]

The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Italic *sekʷōr and Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow, accompany”), with cognates in Ancient Greek ἕπομαι (hépomai), Sanskrit सचते (sácate) and Lithuanian sekti; in Germanic the root came to mean “to see”, as in Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌹𐍈𐌰𐌽 (saiƕan) and German sehen.[10][6][1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the Novellino, at the end of the 13th century, in the sense “to walk after, go behind someone who leads”; the same text has the intransitive sense “to happen, come after”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The figurative senses followed quickly: “to keep to what others say or do” in Brunetto Latini and “to profess an idea, a doctrine, a master” in Guittone, both before 1294.[2] The sense “to follow as a consequence” is in Vincenzo Borghini (before 1580).[2] Old Italian had the present seguisco and the past seguetti beside seguo and seguii.[4][11][12] Seguace “follower” is in Jacopone (as sequace, before 1306) and Dante, and seguente “following” in the Novellino.[2]

In music, the third person segue “(now) follows” marked a passage to be played on without a break;[13] English took it in 1740, used it as a noun for any smooth transition from 1937 and as a verb by 1958.[13]

Timeline

  • Late 13th century – The Novellino uses seguire and seguente.[2]
  • Before 1294 – Guittone uses it for professing a doctrine.[2]
  • Before 1306 – Jacopone uses sequace.[2]
  • Before 1580 – Vincenzo Borghini uses it for “to follow as a consequence”.[2]
  • 1740 – English segue is first recorded in music.[13]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To follow, go after someone or something: Seguite la guida e non perdetevi.[3][4][11]
  2. To tail, shadow someone secretly: Si accorse che una macchina lo seguiva.[3][4][12]
  3. To follow a road, a route or a direction: Segui il fiume fino al ponte.[3][4][11]
  4. To follow with one's eyes or attention; to keep up with, understand: Scusa, non ti seguo.[3][11][12]
  5. To look after, take care of: un'insegnante che segue ogni studente.[3][11]
  6. To follow a course, a programme or a sport regularly: Segue il calcio da quando era bambino.[11][14]
  7. To adhere to a doctrine, a school or a master: seguire Aristotele.[3][11][12]
  8. To comply with advice, rules or fashion: Ho seguito il tuo consiglio.[3][11][14]
  9. (intransitive, auxiliary essere) To come after in order or time; to result: Al pranzo seguì un breve discorso.[1][11][2]

Word family

  • seguente
  • seguito
  • seguace
  • inseguire
  • riseguire
  • conseguire
  • eseguire
  • perseguire
  • proseguire
  • segugio
  • seguitare
  • susseguire
  • sequenza
  • sequela
  • Latin sequor
  • English segue

Usage notes

Seguire le orme di qualcuno means “to follow in someone's footsteps”, and seguire la corrente “to go with the flow”.[12][14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  4. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  5. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
  6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  9. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  12. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  14. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana