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sparire

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word sparire

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1266
Ultimate origin
Latin pāreō

Pronunciation

  • /spaˈri.re/[1]

Forms

sparire (first-person singular present sparìsco, first-person singular past historic spàrvi or (less common) sparìi or (ditto) spàrsi, past participle sparìto, auxiliary èssere)[1]

Etymology

It is apparire (“to appear”) with its prefix replaced by s-, which reverses the meaning.[2][3][4][1] Devoto calls it a calque on that verb, with an ⟨s-⟩ of removal in place of the ⟨ad-⟩ of approach.[5] Apparire continues Latin appāreō (“to appear”), from ad- and pāreō (“to appear, be visible”).[1]

Meyer-Lübke instead posits Vulgar Latin *disparēscere (“to vanish”).[6] DEI and Zingarelli compare disparire, and Tommaseo cites Medieval Latin dispareō.[7][8][9] Compare Sicilian spariri.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli dates the verb to 1266.[8] DELI's first record is the Novellino, of the late 13th century, in the sense “to vanish from sight, especially suddenly or causing surprise”; in one tale a shadow vanishes when the water is stirred: “l'acqua s'intorbidò, e l'ombra sparìo”.[2][9]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses the verb for figures who vanish from sight: “Così sparì; e io su mi levai” (so he vanished; and I rose up), of Cato in the Purgatorio.[10][9] The sense “to be used up quickly” is recorded in Passavanti in 1354.[2] The sense “to go missing”, of things that are stolen or lost, appears in the 19th century: a Milan paper of 1840 speaks of a pickpocket who makes a handkerchief vanish from a pocket.[2]

Sparizione “disappearance” is recorded in 1585, in Giovan Maria Cecchi.[2] Euphemistic uses grew up for death (sparire dalla faccia della terra) and for murder (far sparire qualcuno).[4][8][11]

Timeline

  • 1266 – The verb is first recorded.[8]
  • Late 13th century – The Novellino uses it for vanishing from sight.[2]
  • 1354 – Passavanti uses it for being used up quickly.[2]
  • 1585 – Sparizione is recorded.[2]
  • 1840 – A Milan newspaper uses far sparire for stealing.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To disappear, to vanish from sight, often suddenly: Il gatto è sparito sotto il divano.[4][12][13][8][1]
  2. To cease to exist, to fade away: Con il tempo il dolore sparirà.[4][12][11]
  3. Of things, to go missing; to be stolen: Mi è sparito il telefono dalla borsa.[4][12][13][11]
  4. (colloquial) Of food, to be eaten up quickly: Le paste sono sparite in cinque minuti.[4][13][8]
  5. Of a person, to become impossible to find, sparisci!, get lost!: Da quando ha cambiato lavoro è sparito.[4][11][8]
  6. To leave a field or activity for good: sparire dalle scene.[4][12]
  7. (euphemistic) To die: sparire dalla faccia della terra.[4][8][11]
  8. far sparire: to hide or steal something; to kill someone.[12][8][11]

Word family

  • sparizione
  • risparire
  • apparire
  • scomparire
  • disparire
  • comparire

Usage notes

The verb takes essere and is conjugated like apparire: the present is sparisco, and the past historic sparii beside the literary sparvi.[12][8][11] Its opposite is apparire.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  9. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 19, 712
  11. ^ a b c d e f g Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  12. ^ 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
  13. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
Cite this entry

“Sparire.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/sparire. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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