stringere

Forms

stringere (first-person singular present strìngo, first-person singular past historic strìnsi, past participle strétto, auxiliary avére)^[1] The old variant strignere is used in the forms where ⟨g⟩ is soft (strigni, strignésti); Tuscan and popular speech also has the participle strinto.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin stringō (“to draw tight, bind; to strip off”).^[5][6][7][1] The verb lives on across the Romance languages: French étreindre, Occitan estrenher, Catalan estrènyer, Spanish estreñir, Sardinian istrìnghere and Romanian strânge.^[6][8] Italian kept the Latin present stem, while the past participle stretto continues the participle Latin strictus, formed without the nasal.^[9][1]

The Latin verb is of Indo-European origin.^[5][1] Nocentini compares Ancient Greek στραγγάλη (strangálē, “halter”), Middle Irish srengim (“to draw”) and Old High German strang (“rope”) and strengi (“rigid”).^[6] De Vaan sees in the Latin verb a merger of a verb from Proto-Indo-European *streyg- (“to brush, strip”), which gave the sense “to strip off” and strigilis (“scraper”), with a verb from Proto-Indo-European *strengʰ- (“to tie”), which gave “to bind, tighten” and the compounds such as restringō.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the Novellino, late in the 13th century, for drawing two things or two parts of one thing close together and pressing them, and for “to oblige, compel”; a figure in it “clenched his fist” on three precious stones.^[5][11]

Semantic evolution

From “squeeze, press together” the verb took on many applied senses: to surround and besiege a town (before 1348, Giovanni Villani), to grip a weapon (Ariosto, 1516), to make a garment narrower (1550), to sum up a speech (before 1527, Machiavelli) and to quicken one's pace (before 1492, Lorenzo de' Medici).^[5] In the 19th century it became usual to stringere an alliance or a friendship (1801, Vincenzo Cuoco), and Tommaseo noted that shoes “pinch” when they are small.^[5] The reflexive stringersi “to draw close” is in Dante.^[5]

Fixed phrases include stringere i denti (to grit one's teeth and endure), stringere la mano (to shake hands), stringere la cinghia (to tighten one's belt) and stringere il cuore (to wring the heart); a proverb says chi troppo vuole nulla stringe.^[7][2][1] Fencing borrowed the verb into English (1688) and German (1818–22) for binding the opponent's blade.^[12]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses stringere “press together” and “compel”.^[5]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses reflexive stringersi “draw close”.^[5]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses stringere “besiege”.^[5]
• About 1350 – Stringente and strignimento appear in the translation of Crescenzi.^[5]
• 1516 – Ariosto uses stringere “grip (a weapon)”.^[5][12]
• 1688 – English fencing language takes up stringere.^[12]
• 1801 – Vincenzo Cuoco uses stringere for concluding an alliance.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hold tight, clasp, grip: stringere un bambino fra le braccia.^[7][1][2]
2. To close or press tightly; to contract: stringere gli occhi.^[7][4][3]
3. To tighten a tool or a fastening: stringere un dado.^[7][4][13]
4. Of clothes or shoes, to be too tight, to pinch: questi stivali mi stringono.^[7][13][1]
5. To make narrower, take in a garment; figuratively, to cut short or sum up: stringere una relazione.^[13][1]
6. To force into a narrow place; to surround or besiege: stringere d'assedio.^[7][3]
7. To conclude an agreement or form a bond: stringere un accordo.^[13][1][5]
8. (literary) To grip a weapon.^[13][3]
9. (intransitive) Of time, to be pressing; of a vehicle, to cut in sharply.^[7][1]

Word family

• stretto
• stringente
• stringimento
• stringitore
• stringitura
• stringinaso
• stringersi
• stringatezza
• restringere
• ristringere

Related words

• astringere
• costringere
• constringere
• distringere
• strangolare
• Latin stringō
• French étreindre

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
3. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
13. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse