sorgere

Forms

sorgere or sòrgere (first-person singular present sórgo or sòrgo, first-person singular past historic sórsi or sòrsi, past participle sórto or sòrto, auxiliary èssere)^[1] The old and poetic form is surgere, the only one in the earliest records.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin surgō (“to rise, get up”), a syncopated form of subrigō, from sub- (“under, from below”) and regō (“to guide, direct”).^{[2][5][6][7][1]} Gabrielli glosses the compound as “to direct from below upwards”.^[8] The Latin simple verb continues Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to stretch, direct”).^[9]

The same verb is French sourdre and Occitan sorzer; in the old dialect of Milan sorger meant “to gush forth”.^[5][10] Catalan surgir took the nautical sense “to anchor”, properly “to rise out of the sea”, and passed it to Spanish surgir and Portuguese surgir.^[5][10][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record, from the first half of the 13th century, is Bondie Dietaiuti's noun surgere “the rising of the stars”; the TLIO's first record is in Bonagiunta Orbicciani of Lucca, in the middle of the century.^[2][11] The basic Old Italian sense is to move upwards, to rise from the ground or from lying down, and it was used of animals waking from winter sleep, of birds taking flight and of winds starting to blow.^[11] Iacopone has Corpo, surge, lèvate! “body, rise, get up!”.^[2][12]

Semantic evolution

Brunetto Latini uses the verb for something coming into being (before 1294), and Dante for a thing standing high and for water springing from the ground (before 1321).^[2] In religious language it meant to rise from the dead.^[11] The form sorgere is recorded for springing water in Leonardo (before 1519), and the astronomical sense, the reappearance of a star above the horizon, in 1842.^[2]

The present participle gave sorgente “spring” (first half of the 14th century), later “origin, cause” (before 1698) and, in physics, the source of waves or radiation (1873).^[2] According to Alessio, sorgiva and sorgivo are remakes on sorgere of the older sortivo, from sorto.^[2]

Timeline

• 1200–1250 – Bondie Dietaiuti uses surgere as a noun for the rising of the stars.^[2]
• Mid-13th century – Bonagiunta Orbicciani uses the verb in Lucca.^[11]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for “to come into being”.^[2]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone uses it for rising from sitting or lying.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for standing high and for water springing.^[2]
• First half of the 14th century – Sorgente “spring” is recorded.^[2]
• Before 1519 – The form sorgere is used by Leonardo.^[2]
• 1842 – The sense “rise above the horizon” is recorded in the Milanese press.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (literary) Of a person, to rise, get up: Allor surse a la vista scoperchiata / un'ombra (Dante).^[6][4][7]
2. (figurative, literary) To rise up, rebel; insorgere.^[6][4]
3. Of buildings or mountains, to stand, tower: Il santuario sorge in cima alla collina.^[6][7][13]
4. Of the sun and stars, to rise: D'estate il sole sorge presto.^[6][4][7]
5. Of water, to spring, have its source: Il torrente sorge tra le rocce.^[6][4][7]
6. (figurative) Of doubts, problems or feelings, to arise: Durante la riunione sorse una discussione.^[6][7][13]
7. (figurative) To begin, come into being.^[6][4]

Noun

1. il sorgere: the rising of a star;^[13][7][1] al sorgere del sole “at sunrise”.^[13][7][1]

Word family

• sorgente
• sorgiva
• sorgivo
• insorgere
• risorgere
• sorgimento

Related words

• sorgenza
• sorgitore
• reggere
• Latin surgō

Usage notes

An old nautical sorgere “to anchor, lie at anchor” (sorgere sull'ancora) is treated by Zingarelli and Gabrielli as a separate word from Catalan surgir.^[13][8] The TLIO calls its origin uncertain, Latin surgere or, less probably, the Catalan verb, and notes the early Croatian loan surgati, which points to a Dalmatian Latin continuity.^[11]

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 l m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
4. ^ 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
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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
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. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 19, 489
13. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli