serrare

Forms

serrare (first-person singular present sèrro, first-person singular past historic serrài, past participle serràto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian sarare and Old Italian sarrare.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *serrāre (“to close, shut”), for Late Latin serāre (“to bolt”), from Latin sera (“bar, bolt of a door”).^[3][4][5][1] The double ⟨rr⟩ is usually put down to the influence of Latin ferrum (“iron”) or of serra (“saw”), perhaps from the toothed shape of some locks; in the glosses the same word, and a form sarra, mean a key.^[4][6][7][8]

The verb is western Romance: French serrer, Occitan serrar, serrer in Engadine, Spanish cerrar and Portuguese cerrar.^[3][6][8] Meyer-Lübke explains the ⟨c-⟩ of Spanish and Portuguese from the compound encerrar or from the influence of cercar.^[6]

The Latin noun was first a wooden bar set across the door;^[3][1] Nocentini places it probably in the family of serō (“to join, link in a row”), and Wiktionary forms it from that verb.^[3][1] DELI calls its origin unknown.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Brunetto Latini, before 1294, in the sense “to squeeze tight, to close by pressing”;^[4][5] “to close so as to block the way” follows in Giordano da Pisa before 1311.^[4][5] Fra Giordano speaks of the man who shuts the windows to catch the sparrows inside the house.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio's serrò la finestra “he shut the window” shows the everyday sense, and Dante's Paradiso has the temple of Janus shut, serrato a Giano il suo delubro.^[9][2] From the 16th century the verb also meant to press hard on an enemy (Machiavelli, 1525) and in the 15th century, to conclude.^[4][8] Military and naval phrases followed: serrare le file “to close ranks” and serrare le vele “to furl the sails”.^[10][11] In 1940 Palazzi records the sense “to quicken, intensify”, as in serrare il ritmo.^[4]

The noun serra “greenhouse” is French serre (1660); serrata “lockout” translates English lock-out (1905); and serramanico, the clasp knife, is Lombard.^[4] Treccani notes that serrare is not a dialect word, though in speech it lives mostly in Tuscany and some northern regions.^[7]

Timeline

• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses serrare “to squeeze, close tight”.^[4][5]
• 1296 – serame “lock, fastening” is recorded.^[4]
• Before 1311 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for shutting doors and windows.^[4]
• 14th century – serratura “lock” appears.^[3]
• 1525 – Machiavelli uses it for pressing an opponent.^[4]
• 1905 – serrata “lockout” is recorded.^[3][12]
• 1940 – the sense “to quicken, intensify” is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To shut or close firmly, with a key, bolt or lock: serrare il portone a chiave.^[5][10][13]
2. To tighten or squeeze hard: serrare un dado;^[5][14][11] serrare i denti.^[5][14][11]
3. (figurative) Of emotion, to grip the throat or heart.^[5][10]
4. To block or enclose: le colline serrano il paese.^[5][11]
5. To shut someone in, or out of a place.^[5][13]
6. To quicken or intensify: serrare l'andatura.^[5][10][14]
7. To press hard on, close in on: serrare l'avversario.^[10][11]
8. (nautical) serrare le vele, to furl the sails;^[10][11] (military) serrare le file, to close ranks.^[10][11]
9. (intransitive, Tuscany) Of doors and windows, to fit, close properly.^[10][14]

Word family

• serra
• serratura
• serranda
• serrata
• serrato
• serrame
• serramento
• serramanico
• serrafila
• serrafilo
• serradadi
• serrate
• rinserrare

Related words

• disserrare
• Latin sera
• French serrer

Usage notes

Serrare bottega means to stop a business, literally or figuratively.^[5][10] A minor homograph serrare “to saw”, from Latin serrō, is found in Guido delle Colonne.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
8. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c d e f g Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
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. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse