tardare

Forms

tardare (first-person singular present tàrdo, first-person singular past historic tardài, past participle tardàto, auxiliary (transitive or intransitive when the subject is a person) avére or (intransitive when the subject is a thing) èssere)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin tardāre (“to delay, hold back; to linger”), a verb made from the adjective tardus (“slow; late”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Latin verb is attested in Cicero.^[6] The same verb is French tarder, Occitan tardar, Catalan tardar, Spanish tardar and Portuguese tardar;^[2][7][6] DEI counts it among the words of Italy and the western Romance area.^[2][7][6] Battisti and Alessio add that some Romance forms imply other verbs built on tardius (“later”), such as Old Occitan tarzar.^[6]

The Latin adjective has no accepted etymology: de Vaan rejects the comparison with Ancient Greek τέρυ (téru, “weak”) on grounds of form and meaning.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli dates the verb before 1257, and Battisti and Alessio record a Pisan form taldare in the 13th century.^[9][6] DELI's first dates are Dante's Commedia (1300–1313) for the transitive sense “to put off, delay” and a 14th-century translation of Saint Gregory for the intransitive “to come or act after the set time”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the verb was also reflexive, in Giovanni Villani, and could mean “to grow late”, in Matteo Villani; derivatives such as tardanza (13th century), tardamento and tardagione followed.^[6][9] Dante uses the transitive sense of two souls slowed by their load and the narrow way, tardavali 'l carco e la via stretta.^[11][12] His line Oh quanto tarda a me ch'altri qui giunga! (“How long it seems to me till someone comes!”) shows the impersonal literary use, of something eagerly awaited.^[3][11][13]

The Tommaseo quotes it from Petrarch and Ariosto, among others, for lingering and for being late in replying.^[14] In modern Italian the intransitive “to be late” is the everyday sense, while the transitive “to delay” has given way to ritardare.^[15][4]

Timeline

• Before 1257 – Zingarelli's date of first record.^[9]
• 13th century – Pisan taldare and tardanza are recorded.^[6]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses tardare transitively.^[10]
• 14th century – A translation of Saint Gregory has it for coming or acting late.^[10]
• 14th century – Giovanni Villani uses it reflexively.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To be late, to arrive or do something after the set or expected time: tardare a una riunione di lavoro.^{[3][13][4][9]}
2. (intransitive) To be slow in coming or appearing, of something expected: quest'anno la primavera tarda a venire.^[3][13][9]
3. (literary, impersonal) To seem late to someone, of something awaited with longing; to be in a hurry.^[3][4][11]
4. (transitive, uncommon) To delay, put off: tardare la consegna di un lavoro.^[3][13][4]
5. (transitive, literary) To slow down.^[3][11][9]

Word family

• tardanza
• tardamento
• tardagione

Related words

• tardi
• tardivo
• tardo
• ritardare
• attardare
• Latin tardus
• French tarder

Usage notes

With a person as subject the verb takes avere; with a thing as subject, in literary use, essere.^[1][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3719
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)