sventare

Forms

sventare (first-person singular present svènto, first-person singular past historic sventài, past participle sventàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian s- + vento + -are.^[2][3][4][5] The first sense was “to let out the air”, and the verb was used in disarming mines;^[2][3][5] DELI therefore reads the prefix as giving the sense “to give vent, let off”, and Nocentini and Devoto–Oli call it intensive.^[2][3][5] Zingarelli sees an intensive prefix in that sense but a privative one in the sailing sense, “to spill the wind from a sail”.^[6] Meyer-Lübke and Wiktionary instead start from Vulgar Latin *exventāre (“to air”), which also gave French éventer, Occitan esventar, Catalan esventar and Romanian zvânta.^[7][8][1]

Latin ventus (“wind”) goes back to Proto-Italic *wentos and Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁-nt-o-, originally the present participle of *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”).^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli dates the verb to 1543;^[6][4] GRADIT's first record is in Campanella's Del senso delle cose, written before 1639, in the sense “to let the air or gas out of a container”.^[6][4] A 1691 text by P. Sardi, quoted by Tommaseo, describes a mine whose blast finds a weak side and, sventando, escapes harmlessly.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In military writing sventare una mina meant to make a mine harmless by opening its chamber or by a countermine.^[2][10][11] From this expression the verb passed to plots and schemes: the 1735 Crusca dictionary notes that it is said of any deal or plan that fails, and Fagiuoli, before 1742, writes of finding many hidden ways per fare sventar questa mina.^[2] The general sense “to foil, to thwart” is the one in use today.^[2][11]

Sailors use the verb for turning a sail so that it spills the wind.^[4][11] Hunters spoke of sventare lo schioppo, firing a little powder to dry a cleaned gun.^[12][10] The past participle sventato has become an adjective and noun of its own.^[11]

Timeline

• 1543 – Zingarelli's first date for the verb.^[6]
• Before 1639 – Campanella uses it for letting air or gas out of a container.^[4]
• 1735 – The Crusca dictionary records the figurative sense “to make a plan fail”.^[2]
• Before 1742 – G. B. Fagiuoli writes sventar questa mina of a scheme.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To foil, thwart: to stop a dangerous or criminal act before it succeeds, or to avert a feared event: La guardia costiera ha sventato il contrabbando.^[4][5][13]
2. (nautical) To turn a sail so that the wind no longer fills it.^[4][5][13]
3. (military) To make a mine harmless.^[5][14][6]
4. (archaic) To let the air or gas out of a container.^[4][5][13]

Word family

• sventato

Related words

• vento
• sventolare
• French éventer

Usage notes

An older sventare, from the same noun with an intensive s-, meant “to winnow, fan, shake in the wind”; it is recorded in the 14th-century Italian Palladius and survives in literary use.^[10][15][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 20, 609
11. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3686