sopportare

Forms

sopportare (first-person singular present soppòrto, first-person singular past historic sopportài, past participle sopportàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin supportāre (“to carry, convey”), which in Late Latin, among Christian writers, came to mean “to bear, endure”.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb is formed with sub- (“under”) on portō (“to carry”).^[2][5][6] The same verb is Spanish soportar, with Catalan and Portuguese forms of the same shape, while Old French sousporter and Old Occitan sosportar have a different prefix.^[7][5][8]

De Vaan takes the verb as probably a verb from a noun meaning “passage, crossing”, from Proto-Indo-European *pr̥tó- (“passed, crossed”) or Proto-Indo-European *pórtos (“passage”).^[9] supportare is a doublet borrowed through French.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's earliest date is an anonymous poem of the late 12th or early 13th century, for “to suffer, endure”: Conquiso – null'om dica / per sopportar fatica (“let no man call himself beaten / for bearing hardship”).^[2][10] GRADIT dates the same sense to before 1257.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to tolerate a person” is recorded in 1340, in the rules of a Florentine confraternity.^[2] The concrete “to hold up, bear on oneself” is found in a 14th-century miscellany and in a translation of the Bible.^[2][11][8] Passavanti wrote that whoever wishes to be borne with in his faults must bear with those of others.^[12] In 16th-century Florence a sopportante was a taxpayer, and Devoto–Oli still lists an archaic absolute use, “to be liable to tax”.^[8][13]

Derivatives followed: sopportazione (before 1396), insopportabile (14th century), sopportabile (Machiavelli, before 1527) and sopportabilità (1960).^[2][5] Modern Italian uses the verb for structures that bear a load, for costs one must meet, and above all, often in the negative, for people or behaviour one cannot stand.^[6][13][4]

Timeline

• Late 12th or early 13th century – An anonymous poem uses sopportare “to endure”.^[2]
• Before 1257 – GRADIT's date for the sense “to endure”.^[6]
• 1340 – The sense “to tolerate a person” is recorded.^[2]
• Before 1396 – Sopportazione is recorded in Giovanni dalle Celle.^[2]
• Before 1527 – Machiavelli uses sopportabile.^[2]
• 1960 – Sopportabilità is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To bear or support a weight: Questa mensola non può sopportare tanti libri.^[6][13][4]
2. To bear a cost or burden: La ditta ha dovuto sopportare perdite pesanti.^[6][13][4]
3. To endure pain, hardship or misfortune, usually with patience or courage: Ha sopportato la malattia senza lamentarsi.^[6][13][4]
4. To withstand conditions without harm: Questa pianta sopporta bene il gelo.^[6][4][14]
5. To tolerate, put up with a person or behaviour, often in the negative: Non sopporto chi parla al cinema.^[6][13][14]
6. (reciprocal, sopportarsi) To tolerate each other.^[13][3]

Word family

• sopportabile
• insopportabile
• sopportabilità
• sopportazione
• sopportatore
• sopportevole

Related words

• portare
• supportare

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
4. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3546
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli