Etymologically
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significare

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Pronunciation

  • /siɲ.ɲi.fiˈka.re/[1]

Forms

significare (first-person singular present signìfico, first-person singular past historic significài, past participle significàto, auxiliary avére)[1] An old form is Old Italian segnificare.[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin significāre (“to make a sign, indicate; to mean”), a learned word.[3][4][5][2] The Latin verb is a compound of signum (“sign”), Italian segno, and the verb-forming -ficō, which comes from faciō (“to make”).[4][6][7] French signifier and Spanish significar are learned in the same way.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the 12th-century Sermone gallo-italico, with the sense “to express by words or signs”: “Lo suber significa l'arma qui est faita de lef materia” (the cork signifies the soul, which is made of light matter).[3][2] Bono Giamboni has it before 1292, and Nocentini dates it to the 13th century.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses it for expressing in words, in a line of the Paradiso that GRADIT quotes: “Trasumanar significar per verba / non si poria” (to pass beyond the human could not be put into words).[5][8] The sense “to mean”, of words and phrases, is recorded before 1565 in Benedetto Varchi, and “to matter, be important” in the Zingarelli dictionary of 1922.[3] In the older language it also meant “to announce, let know” (14th century, Giovanni Villani) and “to foretell”, uses that survive only in formal or literary writing.[9][6]

Derivatives include significazione (about 1224, Saint Francis), significato “meaning” (1353, Boccaccio), significativo (14th century) and insignificante (18th century). In 1960 significante and significato became the linguist's terms for the two sides of the sign.[3][4]

Timeline

  • 12th century – The Sermone gallo-italico uses significa.[3]
  • About 1224 – Saint Francis uses significatione.[3]
  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses the verb.[3][5]
  • 1353 – Boccaccio uses significato “meaning”.[3]
  • Before 1565 – Varchi uses significare “to mean” of words.[3]
  • 1922 – The Zingarelli dictionary records it for “to matter”.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To mean, of a word, phrase or sign: In dialetto, «mo» significa «adesso».[5][8][6]
  2. To be a sign of, to indicate; to symbolize: Il semaforo giallo significa prudenza.[5][8][10]
  3. To imply, to entail: Accettare quel lavoro significherebbe trasferirsi a Milano.[5][8][11]
  4. To matter, to have value or importance for someone: Quella lettera significava tutto per lei.[5][6][10]
  5. (literary) To express in words; to make known, to communicate formally.[5][8][11]

Word family

  • significato
  • significante
  • significativo
  • significazione
  • insignificante
  • significanza

Usage notes

The present is stressed on the second syllable: signìfico, signìfichi.[8][6] In everyday Italian voler dire is a common synonym.[1][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 18, 1092
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  4. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 407
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3493
  10. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana