Etymologically
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sprecare

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Pronunciation

  • /spreˈka.re/[1]

Forms

sprecare (first-person singular present sprèco, first-person singular past historic sprecài, past participle sprecàto, auxiliary avére)[1] An older variant is spregare, used from the 15th century to Alfieri.[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is unknown: DELI finds none of the proposals convincing, and GRADIT, Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti call the word uncertain.[4][5][6][7]

Giovanni Alessio (1946) derived it from an earlier ⟨*spercare⟩, from Vulgar Latin *dispergicāre, formed on dispergō (“to scatter, squander”) as ficcare was on fīgō;[4][2][8][9][10] DEI, Devoto, Zingarelli and Gabrielli follow this view, mostly with a “perhaps”.[4][2][8][9][10] Clemente Merlo (1956) objected that such a metathesis of ⟨r⟩ would have doubled the following consonant.[4] Moritz Regula proposed a Vulgar Latin *disperdicāre, from disperdō (“to ruin, squander”).[4][1] Treccani and Wiktionary mention *exprecārī (“to send to ruin”).[11][1] Nocentini sees an Italian formation from the prefix s- and precare, the unvoiced form of pregare (“to pray”), meaning “to pray in vain, waste time praying”.[12] Körting thought of a German verb or *disprecāre (“to curse”).[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Laude of Jacopone da Todi, before 1306, for wasting goods: in one poem, debts drive a man to steal and to squander the grain (lo biado sprecare / en mala menata).[4][3][14]

Semantic evolution

From wasting money and goods the verb spread to wasting time, effort and talent.[14][5] Tommaseo records sprecare le parole, il fiato and l'inchiostro, to speak or write to no purpose.[14] In football, sprecare un pallone is to miss an easy goal.[5][9]

The pronominal sprecarsi means to spend one's gifts on something unworthy (Carlo Tenca, before 1883); in Rome it was used ironically of a mean gift, “he really went overboard: he gave me two lire!”, and in everyday speech si sprecano means things are plentiful.[4][9] The noun spreco “waste” is recorded only from 1853, and sprecone “spendthrift” from 1873.[4][12]

Timeline

  • Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses sprecare.[4]
  • About 1470 – The variant spregare is recorded.[2]
  • 1853 – Spreco “waste” is recorded.[4]
  • 1873 – Sprecone “spendthrift” is recorded.[4]
  • Before 1883 – Carlo Tenca uses sprecarsi for wasting one's talents.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To waste or squander money and goods: Non sprecare l'acqua mentre ti lavi i denti.[5][6][9]
  2. To waste time, energy or talent on useless things: Ha sprecato due anni in un lavoro che non gli piaceva.[5][6][11]
  3. To fail to make use of a chance: Abbiamo sprecato un'occasione d'oro.[6][11]
  4. (sport) To miss an easy chance to score.[5][6][9]
  5. (sprecarsi) To spend one's abilities on something not worth it.[6][9][11]
  6. (sprecarsi, ironic) To make a mean or half-hearted effort or gift: Non ti sei sprecato con quel regalo![6][7][9]
  7. (sprecarsi, colloquial) Of things, to be plentiful: In quel locale le risse si sprecano.[9]

Word family

  • spreco
  • sprecone
  • sprecamento
  • sprecatore

Usage notes

Sprecare il fiato and sprecare le parole mean to talk to no purpose, sprecare l'inchiostro to write in vain.[5][10][14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3603
  3. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  8. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  10. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  11. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  12. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  13. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  14. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET