sollevare

Forms

sollevare (first-person singular present sollèvo, first-person singular past historic sollevài, past participle sollevàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include solevare, sulevare and sullevare, with an old present sollievo.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sublevō (“to lift up; to relieve”), made of sub- (“under, from below”) and levō (“to lift”).^[3][4][5][1] Meyer-Lübke records the verb only in Italian and in Menorcan sobllevar “to anger”;^[6][7][4] Old French souzlever and modern French soulever were remade with another prefix.^[6][7][4]

Latin levō is formed from levis (“light in weight”), which de Vaan derives from Proto-Indo-European *h₁legʷʰ-u- (“light”).^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Dante, in 1300–1313, for “to lift up, raise to a higher position”: La bocca sollevò dal fiero pasto / quel peccator “that sinner raised his mouth from the savage meal”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

DELI dates the main senses one by one: “to raise, exalt” in Domenico Cavalca before 1342, “to stir up to revolt” in Ser Giovanni in the second half of the 14th century, the reflexive “to rise” in Petrarch before 1374, “to raise a question” in Cerretani before 1524, and “to free from a burden” in Marin Sanudo before 1536.^[3] The reflexive “to rebel” is in Guicciardini before 1540, and a terra sollevata in arme, a town risen in arms, is found at the end of the 15th century; the reflexive “to feel relief” is in Cecchi in 1550–1551.^[3] English borrowed the political sense as sollevate before 1734, a rare word.^[9]

Among the derivatives, sollevazione “uprising” is in Guicciardini, and sollievo “relief” dates from the 17th century.^[7][4] Sollevamento pesi, weightlifting, recorded from 1896, is modelled on English weight-lifting.^[3]

Timeline

• 1300–1313 – Dante uses sollevare for “to lift up”.^[3]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses it for “to raise, exalt”.^[3]
• Second half of the 14th century – Ser Giovanni uses it for “to incite to revolt”.^[3]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses the reflexive sollevarsi “to rise”.^[3]
• Before 1540 – Guicciardini uses sollevarsi for “to rebel”.^[3]
• Before 1734 – English sollevate is recorded.^[9]
• 1896 – Sollevamento dei pesi “weightlifting” appears in the Corriere della Sera.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lift, raise, move to a higher position: Sollevò la valigia e la mise sul portapacchi.^{[5][10][11][12][1]}
2. To raise slightly; to turn upwards: sollevare lo sguardo.^[5][10][12]
3. To raise dust or the like: Le macchine sollevavano nuvole di polvere.^[5][11][12]
4. (figurative) To raise someone from poverty or distress, to help: sollevare qualcuno dalla miseria.^[5][10][12]
5. (figurative) To relieve someone of a burden or task; euphemistically, to remove from office: sollevare qualcuno dall'incarico.^[5][10][12]
6. To comfort, cheer: La telefonata della figlia lo sollevò molto.^[11][12][1]
7. To stir up to revolt: sollevare il popolo contro il governo.^[11][12][13]
8. To raise a question or provoke a reaction: La proposta sollevò molte critiche.^[11][3]
9. (literary) To raise to a high rank; to exalt: sollevare qualcuno ai più alti gradi.^[5][13]

Word family

• sollievo
• sollevamento
• sollevazione
• sollevatore
• sollevabile
• sollevato
• risollevare

Related words

• levare
• Latin sublevō
• French soulever

Usage notes

The reflexive sollevarsi means to rise, to recover one's spirits, or to rebel: La città si sollevò contro gli invasori.^[3][11][12] A common phrase is sollevare un polverone, to stir up a fuss.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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 m 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 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 Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3538
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
10. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana