spiegare

Forms

spiegare (first-person singular present spiègo or spiégo, first-person singular past historic spiegài, past participle spiegàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin explicō (“to unfold, unroll; to set out, explain”), from ex- (“out”) and plicō (“to fold”).^[2][3][4][1] Nocentini calls it the popular outcome of the Latin verb, beside the learned doublet esplicare.^[3][5][1] Devoto points to the northern voicing of /k/ to /ɡ/ between vowels, the same as in piegare from plicō.^[6] The DEI wonders whether it came straight from Latin or through Old Occitan esplegar.^[7]

Meyer-Lübke lists the Engadine form splajer (“to unwind”) as a further outcome of the Latin verb, and notes that the Old Occitan verb meant “to use, reach” and the Old Catalan one “to finish”.^[8] The learned French expliquer is the French counterpart.^[9] DELI and the GDLI note that the sense “to display, show” is modelled on French déployer, used in that sense from 1552.^[2][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the sense “to make clear what is hard to understand”, in the 13th-century poet Monte Andrea.^[2] The concrete sense, “to unfold, spread out”, appears in Dino Compagni's chronicle of 1310–1312, where the soldiers “spiegarono le bandiere” (unfurled the banners); GRADIT dates the word to 1312.^[2][4][11]

Semantic evolution

Dante has a net that si spiega, is spread out, in vain before the eyes of grown birds.^[2][10] Francesco Guicciardini, before 1540, used the verb for deploying troops in battle order, and spiegamento took that military sense in 1824.^[2] The use for showing a quality, spiegare zelo, is found before 1424 in Giovanni Sercambi, but Tommaseo condemned it as a Gallicism.^[2]

The reflexive spiegarsi meant “to make one's thoughts clear” from 1673, and in Manzoni's Promessi sposi Renzo hopes “to have it out” with Lucia.^[2] Spiegazione, explanation, is recorded before 1653 and spiegabile before 1704.^[2] Spiegare le vele and spiegare le ali, to spread the sails or the wings, keep the old concrete sense.^[4][12]

Timeline

• 13th century – Monte Andrea uses spiegare for “to explain”.^[2]
• 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses it for unfurling banners.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses spiegarsi for a net spreading out.^[2]
• Before 1540 – Francesco Guicciardini uses it for deploying troops.^[2]
• Before 1653 – Spiegazione is recorded.^[2]
• 1673 – Paolo Segneri uses spiegarsi for “to make oneself clear”.^[2]
• 1824 – Spiegamento is used of deploying troops.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To unfold, spread out: spiegare un lenzuolo, spiegare le vele, to set sail.^[4][13][12]
2. To deploy troops or police: Hanno spiegato centinaia di agenti.^[4][13][5]
3. To explain, make clear: Mi spieghi questa frase?^[4][5][12]
4. To teach, go over (a lesson, a text): Oggi la maestra ha spiegato le frazioni.^[4][13][14]
5. To tell, set out: Spiegami perché sei arrabbiato.^[4][12][15]
6. spiegarsi: to make oneself understood; to understand, account for: Non mi spiego il suo silenzio.^[12][15][2]

Word family

• spiegazione
• spiegabile
• spiegamento
• spiegato
• dispiegare
• spiegazzare

Related words

• piegare
• spiegatura
• esplicare
• Latin explicō
• French expliquer

Usage notes

Spiegare la voce or il canto is to sing at full voice.^[12][13] Spiegare is the everyday word, while esplicare belongs to formal language.^[5]

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 l m n o p q Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3590
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 19, 897
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET, p. 4, 1106
12. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ 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
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli