stabilire

Forms

stabilire (first-person singular present stabilìsco, first-person singular past historic stabilìi, past participle stabilìto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian stabelire and Old Italian stabolire.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin stabiliō (“to make firm, hold steady”), a verb formed from the adjective stabilis (“firm, steady”).^{[4][5][6][7][2][1]} Devoto calls the Latin verb a causative denominative of the adjective.^[8] DEI notes that the word did not develop as a popular word in Italian, while it has half-popular outcomes across western Romance.^[9]

These are French établir, Old Occitan establir, Catalan establir, Spanish establecer and Portuguese estabelecer.^[10][1] Romanian stabili was borrowed from Italian.^[1] The Latin adjective belongs to the family of Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Brunetto Latini (before 1294), in the sense “to make stable, fix, place”; the sense “to decree, decide” follows at the end of the 13th century in the Novellino.^[4] There the council of Rome stabilìo ch’era meglio... che l’uomo abbia due moglie (“decided that it was better ... for a man to have two wives”).^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense of deciding by authority was the main one from the start: Dante writes of what per eterna legge è stabilito (“is established by eternal law”).^[3][2] The reflexive stabilirsi “to settle, take up residence” is recorded in 1563 (Vincenzo Martelli) but spread only in the 19th century, when Lissoni (1831) rejected it as improper in place of stanziarsi.^[4] He also recorded the builders' sense, to plaster walls, from which comes stabilitura, the fine finishing coat of plaster.^[4][9]

The old sense “to make firm” survives in sailing, where stabilire le vele is to set and trim the sails.^[6][11] In sport stabilire un record means to set a record.^[6]

Timeline

• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses stabilire for “make stable, fix”.^[4]
• End of the 13th century – The Novellino uses it for “decree, decide”.^[4][2]
• 1563 – Vincenzo Martelli uses the reflexive “to settle”.^[4]
• 1618 – Stabilitore is recorded in Buonarroti the Younger.^[9]
• 1831 – Lissoni condemns stabilirsi for “to settle”.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To establish, to place permanently, fix: Hanno stabilito la loro sede a Torino.^[6][7][12]
2. To institute, found or organize on a lasting basis.^[6][7][11]
3. To decree or decide by authority; to set or fix (a date, a price, a rule): Il consiglio ha stabilito nuovi orari di apertura.^[6][13][7]
4. To assign or distribute (tasks, places, shifts).^[6]
5. To decide or resolve (to do something): Abbiamo stabilito di vederci domani.^[6][13][12]
6. (sport) To set (a record).^[6]
7. (rare) To make firm, fix something so that it stays steady;^[6][7][11] (nautical) to set and trim the sails.^[6][7][11]
8. (reflexive) As stabilirsi: to settle, take up residence somewhere.^[13][11][12]

Word family

• prestabilire
• ristabilire
• stabilimento
• stabilito
• stabilitore
• stabilitura

Related words

• stabile
• Latin stabilis
• French établir

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3611
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse