svellere

Forms

svellere (first-person singular present svèllo or svèlgo, first-person singular past historic svèlsi, past participle svèlto or svélto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Older forms are Old Italian svegliere and the poetic Old Italian sverre, and the word is svélge at Lucca today.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *exvellere, a variant of Latin ēvellere (“to tear out, uproot”), formed with ex- and vellō (“to pluck, tear”).^[5][6][7][1] DEI, Prati and Meyer-Lübke start directly from the classical verb.^[2][4][8] Nocentini instead sees an Italian formation, from divellere with the prefix s- in place of di-.^[9]

According to de Vaan, the Latin verb goes back through Proto-Italic to Proto-Indo-European *uelh₃- (“to strike”), the root of Hittite walḫzi (“hits”).^[10] Devoto found its links outside Italy difficult.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Dante, before 1321, with the sense “to tear away by force, to uproot”;^[5][9] Nocentini dates the verb before 1288.^[5][9] In the Purgatorio the humble rush springs up again where Virgil la svelse “plucked it”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The verb was used above all of plants and weeds pulled up by the roots: the vernacular Crescenzi has weeds svegliere “uprooted” with all their roots, and Pulci's Morgante tears up pines, beeches and oaks.^[12][13] Petrarch has the reflexive si svelse “he tore himself away, left”, a sense now obsolete.^[3][7][14]

Figuratively one svelle a memory, a passion or a vice from the mind.^[6][14] The word is now literary.^[7][14]

The past participle svelto “uprooted” (about 1340, in the Palladio translation) developed senses of its own, “slender, agile, quick”, and so the participle of svellere is usually divelto.^{[5][4][8][14]}

Timeline

• Before 1288 – Nocentini's date for the first record.^[9]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses svellere.^[5]
• c. 1340 – The participle svelto “uprooted” appears in the Palladio translation.^[5]
• 14th century – Svellimento is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (literary) To uproot, to tear out by force: il vento ha svelto due querce.^[6][3][7][1]
2. (literary, figurative) To eradicate, to drive out a feeling, memory or vice: svellere un rimorso dall'animo.^[6][3][15]
3. (obsolete, as svellersi) To tear oneself away from a place, to leave.^[3][7][14]

Word family

• disvellere
• risvellere
• svellimento
• svelto

Related words

• divellere
• evellere
• Latin ēvellō

Usage notes

The present has both io svello and the less common io svelgo; the past historic is svelsi.^[7][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3685
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 965
5. ^ a b c d e f 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 d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, 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. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 434
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
14. ^ 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)
15. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse