spiacere

Forms

spiacere (first-person singular present spiàccio, first-person singular past historic spiàcqui, past participle spiaciùto, auxiliary èssere)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian s- + piacere, with the prefix that reverses the meaning of the base, so that it means “not to please”.^[2][3][4][5] Treccani describes it as a shortened form of dispiacere, with ⟨dis-⟩ reduced to ⟨s-⟩.^[6] Nocentini and Meyer-Lübke instead derive it from Vulgar Latin *displacēre, a remodelling of Latin displiceō (“to displease”) on the simple verb placeō (“to please”).^[7][8] The same Vulgar Latin verb is continued by Old French desplaisir, French déplaire, Old Occitan desplazer, Catalan desplaure, Spanish desplacer and Portuguese desprazer.^[8]

The Latin verb is a stative in ⟨-ē-⟩.^[9] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *plakē- and finds a direct match only in Tocharian; a link with the root of Ancient Greek πλήσσω (plḗssō, “to strike”) is possible in form but hard to reconcile in meaning.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Proverbia quae dicuntur super natura feminarum, a Venetian poem of the last quarter of the 12th century, which says “eu dirai tutavia, cui qe debia splasere” (I will say it all the same, whomever it may displease).^[10][11] DELI dates the sense “to cause resentment or bitterness” to the 13th century, to Ugieri Apugliese, who wrote that “la guerra molto mi spiace, / ke frutta pistolenza” (war displeases me greatly, for it bears pestilence).^[2][11]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb covered any unpleasant feeling caused in someone, the disapproval of a political party and God's displeasure at sin.^[10] The negative present subjunctive was already used as a mild apology or a request for a favour, in the manner of non ti spiaccia.^[10] Dante wrote “ché perder tempo a chi più sa più spiace” (for losing time grieves him most who knows most), and Petrarch “quel ch'a te spiacque” (what displeased you).^[12][11]

The nominalized infinitive spiacere “sorrow, displeasure” is recorded from Ubertino del Bianco d'Arezzo (before 1269) and used by Boccaccio, but it is now obsolete.^[10][3][11] The present participle spiacente is found in a poet of the Sicilian school (before 1250) in the sense “displeasing”, and with the modern sense “sorry” in Ippolito Nievo (before 1861); spiacevole “unpleasant” goes back to Fra Giordano (before 1311).^[2] The pronominal spiacersi “to be sorry” is recorded only in 1873, in Tommaseo.^[2] Today the verb lives above all in polite formulas such as mi spiace and se non le spiace.^[3][5][6]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – Splasere appears in the Venetian Proverbia quae dicuntur super natura feminarum.^[10][11]
• Before 1250 – Spiacente is used by a poet of the Sicilian school.^[2][3]
• Before 1269 – The noun spiacere “sorrow” is recorded in Ubertino del Bianco d'Arezzo.^[10]
• 13th century – Ugieri Apugliese uses the verb for “to cause resentment”.^[2]
• Before 1311 – Spiacevole is recorded in Fra Giordano.^[2]
• Before 1861 – Ippolito Nievo uses spiacente for “sorry”.^[2]
• 1873 – Tommaseo records the pronominal spiacersi.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cause regret, to make someone sorry (with the person in the dative, often impersonal): Le spiace di aver perso il treno.^{[3][13][5][14]}
2. In polite formulas, to soften a refusal or ask leave: Mi spiace, oggi il negozio è chiuso, Ti spiace se apro la finestra?^[3][13][6]
3. To displease, to be disliked or cause annoyance: Quel tono arrogante spiacque a molti.^[3][13][14]
4. spiacersi: to be sorry, to regret: Si spiacque molto dell'accaduto.^[13][14][15]

Word family

• spiacente
• spiacevole

Related words

• piacere
• dispiacere
• Latin displiceō

Usage notes

Spiacere is conjugated like piacere and takes essere.^[13][5][1] Wiktionary labels it a literary variant of dispiacere, but GRADIT counts it among the words of high use, mostly in mi spiace.^[1][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ 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
4. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
7. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b 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 c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ 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
14. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli