stare

Forms

stare (first-person singular present (with syntactic gemination after the verb) stò, first-person singular past historic stétti or (traditional) stètti, past participle stàto, first-person singular future starò, first-person singular subjunctive stìa, first-person singular imperfect subjunctive stéssi, second-person singular imperative stài or stà', auxiliary èssere)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin stō (“to stand, stand firm; to be situated”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin present participle stāns lives on in stante.^[2] The verb is found in every Romance language: Old French ester (the source of English stay), Occitan estar, Catalan estar, Spanish estar, Portuguese estar, Sardinian istare and Romanian sta,^[3] as well as Friulian sta, Romansh ster and Dalmatian stur.^[5]

Latin stō continues a stative present, Proto-Italic *staēje- “to be standing”, from Proto-Indo-European *sth₂-eh₁-ye-, built on the root Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”).^[6] DELI gives the root as “*sthā-” with the meaning “to come to a stop”,^[2] and Devoto saw in it an old root of momentary meaning, “to halt”.^[7] It belongs to a large Indo-European family: Ancient Greek ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to set, place”) (middle “to stand”), Sanskrit तिष्ठति (tiṣṭhati), Old Church Slavonic стояти (stojati), Lithuanian stóti and Old High German stēn, the ancestor of German stehen.^[3][6]

Because the meanings were close, Romance verbs meaning “stand” supplied forms to the verb “to be”: Italian stato, the past participle of essere, comes from it, as do French était and été.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in 1211, in a book of accounts, with the sense “to linger, delay”.^[2][3][4] By the 14th century the infinitive was also used as a noun.^[8]

Semantic evolution

From the Latin senses “to stand, stand firm, be found somewhere”, Italian stare came to mean above all “to remain, stay” and “to be” in a place or state.^[3][4] Tommaseo's dictionary called it one of the most frequent verbs of the language, because of the variety of its meanings and constructions.^[9] With an adverb or adjective it expresses health and well-being (come stai?, “how are you?”), and in the regions it can mean “to live, reside”.^[4][10][1]

Stare per with an infinitive, “to be about to”, is recorded from 1550–51 in Giovan Maria Cecchi,^[2] and stare with a gerund forms the progressive (sto leggendo, “I am reading”).^[1] The mathematical sense, “to be in proportion to” (2 sta a 4 come 3 sta a 6), appears in the Zingarelli dictionary of 1922.^[2] In card games sto means that a player wants no more cards.^[11]

The present participle stante meant “standing” by the end of the 13th century (Novellino), and, from before 1574 (Vasari) it served as a preposition, “because of”;^[2] Panzini in 1905 granted it 17th-century authority but added that this did not make it elegant.^[2] Seduta stante, “while the meeting is in session”, was recorded in 1873 and later meant “at once”, and a sé stante, “separate, standing apart”, in 1960.^[2] In Venetian statutes of 1255 a Latin stantus already named a supporting post.^[12] The verb was borrowed into the Mediterranean contact language Sabir as star and into Esperanto as stari.^[1]

Timeline

• 1211 – First record of stare, in the sense “to linger”.^[2][4]
• 1255 – Medieval Latin stantus “prop” in the statutes of Venice.^[12]
• Late 13th century – The participle stante “standing” in the Novellino.^[2]
• 14th century – The infinitive is used as a noun.^[8]
• 1550–1551 – Stare per “to be about to” in Giovan Maria Cecchi.^[2]
• Before 1574 – Vasari uses stante as a preposition, “because of”.^[2]
• 1873 – Seduta stante is recorded in Tommaseo–Bellini.^[2]
• 1922 – The mathematical sense “to be in proportion” appears in the Zingarelli dictionary.^[2]
• 1960 – A sé stante “separate” is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stay, remain in a place without moving away: resta pure, io sto qui ancora un'ora.^[4][13][10]
2. To be, find oneself in a given place, setting or situation: stare sul balcone; also of a task one is assigned to: stare allo sportello.^[4][13][10]
3. To be or keep in a certain position, attitude or condition, with an adjective or phrase: stare accovacciato, stare in silenzio.^[4][14][11]
4. Of health and comfort: to be, to feel: oggi sto meglio.^[4][15]
5. (regional) To live, have one's home: sta in via Garibaldi.^[10][1]
6. To be in a relationship with someone: sta con lui da due anni.^[10]
7. (with per and an infinitive) To be about to: il film sta per cominciare.^[2][4][1]
8. (with a gerund) Forms the progressive: stavamo cenando.^[1]
9. (mathematics, with a) To be in proportion to: 5 sta a 10 come 1 sta a 2.^[2][1]
10. (card games) Sto: I want no more cards.^[11]

Word family

• stante
• stantio
• retrostante
• instare
• soprastare
• soprastante
• sottostare
• sottostante
• sovrastare
• sovrastante
• constare
• distare
• restare
• ristare

Related words

• sostanza
• sostare
• stagione
• stanza
• stazione
• stazzo
• stazzone
• stato
• Latin sto
• Spanish estar

Usage notes

The present sto and sta are written without an accent; the imperative is sta’, stai or sta.^[14] The verb takes essere as its auxiliary, and its past participle stato is shared with essere.^[14][3] Lasciar stare means “to leave alone, not to touch or bother”.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 r 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3619
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 947
13. ^ a b c 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