soggiornare

Forms

soggiornare (first-person singular present soggiórno, first-person singular past historic soggiornài, past participle soggiornàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include sogornare, sogiornare and sozornare.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *subdiurnāre (“to spend the day”), a verb formed with sub- on Latin diurnus (“daily”).^[3][4][5][1] Prati and Etymonline instead analyse it as sub with diurnāre (“to last long”), a verb Gellius uses.^[6][7][8] That adjective is from Latin diēs (“day”) with the suffix -urnus, through an older *diusnus.^[9][1]

The same verb is Old Occitan sojornar and Old French sozjorner, modern French séjourner.^[5][2] The GDLI takes Old French sojorner to be a loan from Occitan, as Spanish sejornar is.^[2] English sojourn comes from Old French.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Medieval Latin sozornare is recorded at Parma in 1255, and Italian soggiornare in an anonymous 13th-century poet.^[3] The sense is to remain in the same place for some days.^[3] Chiaro Davanzati uses it pronominally: assettomi 'n u.lloco e mi soggiorno (“I sit down in a place and stay there”).^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the verb for lingering or delaying, as Ariosto's Bradamante, in a hurry, refuses to soggiornar.^[10][11] As a transitive verb it meant to give lodging to people and to feed and look after animals, and in Tuscany soggiornare una stanza is to air a room.^[12][13][11]

The noun soggiorno is recorded before 1294 in Brunetto Latini for a stay and in Dante for the place where one stays.^[3] In the 20th century it became the name of the living room, a calque of English living room: sala di soggiorno in 1940 and soggiorno alone in 1942.^[3] Tassa di soggiorno, the tax paid by visitors to the local authority, is recorded from 1922.^[3]

Timeline

• 1255 – Medieval Latin sozornare is recorded at Parma.^[3]
• 13th century – An anonymous poet uses soggiornare.^[3]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses the noun soggiorno.^[3]
• c. 1300 – English sojourn is recorded as a verb, from Old French.^[7]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses soggiorno for a dwelling place.^[3]
• 1922 – Tassa di soggiorno appears in the Zingarelli dictionary.^[3]
• 1940 – Sala di soggiorno is recorded for the living room.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stay, sojourn somewhere for a time, especially on holiday or for rest: d'estate soggiornano al lago.^{[11][14][15][12]}
2. (literary) To stop somewhere for a short while.^[11][14][16]
3. (archaic) To linger, delay.^{[11][14][15][10]}
4. (archaic, transitive) To give lodging to someone, to keep them.^[11][14][12]
5. (archaic, transitive) To feed and tend livestock.^[11][12][10]
6. (Tuscany, transitive) To air a room by opening it.^{[11][14][12][16]}

Word family

• soggiorno
• soggiornante
• soggiornamento

Related words

• giorno
• diurno
• French séjourner
• English sojourn

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 926
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli