svegliare

Forms

svegliare (first-person singular present svéglio, first-person singular past historic svegliài, past participle svegliàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

In the view of Nocentini, GRADIT, the DEI and Prati it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *exvigilāre (“to awaken”),^[2][3][4][5] a popular variant of classical Latin ēvigilāre (“to wake up; to watch”), with the prefix ex- in an intensive sense and vigilāre (“to stay awake, to keep watch”).^[3][6][7] DELI takes the Italian verb as borrowed from Old French esveillier, the Old French continuation of the same Vulgar Latin verb,^[8] while Treccani, Gabrielli, Sabatini–Coletti, the GDLI, Wiktionary and Devoto's Avviamento name Old Occitan esvelhar as its immediate source, some with the Old French verb beside it.^{[7][9][10][11][1][12]}

The DEI calls it a word of the area of Italy, Occitania and France;^[4][13] Meyer-Lübke lists French éveiller among its outcomes.^[4][13] The consonant /ʎʎ/ of ⟨gli⟩ is the northern or Gallo-Romance outcome of Latin -gil-, as in vegliare, which Nocentini calls northern in type and DELI derives from velhar.^[2][8] The Tuscan outcome is ⟨gghi⟩, which survives in the old and rustic variant Old Italian svegghiare.^[5][14]

Latin vigil (“awake, watchful”) belongs with vigeō (“to be active, to flourish”), from Proto-Italic *weg- and Proto-Indo-European *weǵ- (“to be strong”), the root of Gothic and Old High German words for being awake.^[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini dates the first record to 1268, and GRADIT to the second half of the 13th century.^[2][3] The reflexive svegliarsi “to wake up” is in the Novellino (late 13th century), and Dante (before 1321) uses the verb for rousing someone from sleep: in the Vita nuova the women draw near “to wake me, believing that I was dreaming”.^[8][11]

Semantic evolution

Figurative senses came early: Bartolomeo da San Concordio (before 1347) uses svegliare for making someone alert, shaking off torpor, and Petrarch (before 1374) has svegliarsi for growing shrewd.^[8] Segneri (1673) uses it for arousing a feeling, and Redi (before 1698) has the reflexive for something that stirs and sets itself in motion.^[8] Old Italian also had svegliare “to stay awake”, with the prefix as an intensive, and Vasari uses it for ending an evening's work, with the prefix in a privative sense.^[16]

The derivatives followed the verb.^[8] Sveglia named a wind instrument for sounding the call in a 14th-century translation of Seneca, then the wake-up signal of a community (before 1742) and the alarm clock (1873).^[8] The adjective sveglio, a contracted participle, meant “awake” and then “alert, quick, shrewd” (1836); Manzoni used it in the 1840–42 Promessi sposi where the earlier edition had svegliato.^[8]

Timeline

• 1268 – First record, as Nocentini dates it.^[2]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino has svegliarsi “to wake up”.^[8]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses svegliare for rousing someone from sleep.^[8][11]
• Before 1347 – Bartolomeo da San Concordio uses it for making someone alert.^[8]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses svegliarsi for growing shrewd.^[8]
• 14th century – Sveglia names an instrument for sounding the call.^[8]
• 1673 – Segneri uses the verb for arousing a feeling.^[8]
• Before 1742 – Sveglia means the wake-up signal of a community.^[8]
• 1836 – Sveglio “alert, shrewd” is recorded.^[8]
• 1873 – Sveglia “alarm clock” is recorded in Tommaseo–Bellini.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To wake, to awaken: to rouse from sleep: Il cane ci ha svegliati all'alba.^[3][6][10]
2. (figurative) To shake out of inertia or apathy, to rouse: Ci vuole una scossa per svegliare la squadra.^[3][6][10]
3. (figurative) To make shrewder or more alert; to put on guard: Il primo lavoro l'ha svegliata parecchio.^[3][6][17]
4. (figurative) To arouse or stir up an appetite or a feeling: La passeggiata mi ha svegliato la fame.^[3][10][7]
5. svegliarsi: To wake up: Domenica mi sono svegliato tardi.^[17][10][6]
6. svegliarsi (figurative): To shake off one's torpor; to grow shrewd.^[17][7][10]
7. svegliarsi (figurative): Of a feeling or sensation, to arise, to make itself felt.^[17]

Word family

• sveglia
• sveglio
• svegliarsi
• risvegliare
• disvegliare
• svegliarino
• svegliato
• svegliatezza
• svegliatore

Related words

• vegliare
• veglia
• vigile
• destare
• Latin vigilo
• French éveiller

Usage notes

The proverb non svegliare il can che dorme “don't wake the sleeping dog” warns against stirring up something that may do harm.^[14][7] Svegliare and destare are synonyms.^[3][10]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3685
5. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 965
6. ^ a b c d e 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 c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
10. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
14. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
16. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 20, 600
17. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli