soccorrere

Forms

soccorrere (first-person singular present soccórro, first-person singular past historic soccórsi, past participle soccórso, auxiliary avére or (in the literary intransitive meaning "to come to mind") èssere)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin succurrere (“to run beneath; to come to help; to come to mind”), formed from sub- (“under”) and currō (“to run”).^[2][3][4][1] Nocentini notes that the 13th-century record still has the Latin form, succurrere.^[3][5]

The same verb gave French secourir, Occitan secorre, Catalan socórrer, Spanish socorrer and Portuguese socorrer.^[3][6]

De Vaan traces currō to Proto-Indo-European *krs-e/o- (“to run”), and notes that compounds in -currō more often have a figurative sense than the newer ones in -cursō.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Guido Faba, before 1243, in the sense of running to someone's aid; the sense “to come to mind” follows around 1300 in the Italian translation of Albertano.^[2] Nocentini dates the word to the 13th century in the form succurrere.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb transitively and with a: Dante has Charlemagne come to the help of the Church, and Petrarch prays for help for the strayed soul.^[8] The sense “to come to mind”, which takes essere, is now literary.^[1][9]

The noun soccorso appears in Medieval Latin as succursus at Torcello in 1290 and in Italian at the end of the 13th century in the Novellino; it meant military relief by before 1498 and a subsidy by 1581.^[2] The phrase soccorso di Pisa, help that comes too late or never, is in Francesco Berni before 1535: Panzini traced it to the help the emperor promised Ghibelline Pisa against Florence and never sent.^[2]

Timeline

• Before 1243 – Guido Faba uses soccorrere for “to run to help”.^[2]
• 1290 – Medieval Latin succursus is recorded at Torcello.^[2]
• c. 1300 – The sense “to come to mind” appears in the Italian Albertano.^[2][4]
• Late 13th century – The noun soccorso appears in the Novellino.^[2]
• Before 1535 – Francesco Berni uses soccorso di Pisa.^[2]
• 1723 – Soccorritore is recorded in Anton Maria Salvini.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To help or rescue promptly in an emergency: Due passanti hanno soccorso il ciclista caduto.^[4][5][10]
2. (transitive) To assist or support people in need: soccorrere i senzatetto.^[4][5]
3. (intransitive, literary; auxiliary avere) To come to someone's aid, with a.^[4][5][11]
4. (intransitive, literary; auxiliary essere) To come to mind, to occur to someone: Adesso non mi soccorre la parola giusta.^[4][5][9]

Word family

• soccorritore
• soccorso
• soccorrevole
• soccorribile
• soccorrimento

Related words

• correre
• French secourir

Usage notes

The verb is conjugated like correre (past soccorsi, participle soccorso).^[5][1] Soccorso di Pisa is a proverbial phrase for help that comes too late.^[2]

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 k 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)