udire

Forms

udire (first-person singular present òdo, first-person singular past historic udìi, past participle udìto, first-person singular future udrò or udirò, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin audiō (“to hear”).^[2][3][4][1] The initial ⟨u-⟩ arose where the diphthong was unstressed, while under stress it gave ⟨o-⟩ regularly, as in the first person singular; where ⟨au-⟩ is kept, as in audizione and auditore, the word came by a learned route.^[2][5] The old forms were Old Italian odire and adire, and Tuscan and Venetian aldire, with a hypercorrect ⟨l⟩, beside northern oldire.^[6]

The verb is pan-Romance: Romanian auzi, Old French oir, Old Occitan auzir, Catalan ohir, Spanish oír and Portuguese ouvir;^[3][7][6] only Sardinian and Dalmatian lack it.^[8] In French entendre spread beside it from the 12th century, and ouïr fell out of use in the 16th.^[7]

In Latin the verb is an isolated innovation within Indo-European.^[2] De Vaan derives it from a Proto-Italic compound, a compound of Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewis (“clearly, manifestly”) with the root Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put”), “to make manifest”, which also explains oboediō (“to obey”).^[9][1] It is related to Ancient Greek ἀΐω (aḯō, “to perceive, to hear”);^[9][3] Nocentini thinks the root is probably the one in auris (“ear”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The LEI's first records are in the Sicilian poets of the first half of the 13th century, in Giacomino Pugliese.^[6] DELI dates udire “to perceive sounds with the ear” to the Novellino at the end of the 13th century, with audire in Rustico di Filippo (before 1300), and Nocentini and GRADIT to Dante's use in 1293–1294.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

From hearing sounds the verb passed to learning by hearsay (Dante, 1293–1294), to listening with attention (Novellino), and to heeding prayers and orders (Villani, before 1348).^[2] The infinitive was used as a noun for the sense of hearing: Giamboni lists the five senses as vedere, udire, odorare, gustare e toccare, and Dante writes mia ebbrezza intrava per l'udire e per lo viso (“my rapture entered through hearing and through sight”).^[10][11] Old Italian also said udire qualcuno for attending someone's lectures as a pupil.^[12][13]

In the 19th century Tommaseo already found sentire more common in speech, and today udire is of a higher or more technical register, mostly replaced by sentire in everyday use.^[11][14][15]

Timeline

• First half of the 13th century – Giacomino Pugliese uses udire.^[6]
• 1293–1294 – Dante uses it for “to hear said”.^[2][4]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses udire and udienza.^[2]
• About 1300 – Udito “hearing” appears.^[2]
• Before 1348 – Villani uses udire for heeding prayers.^[2]
• Before 1406 – Udibile in Buti.^[2]
• 1961 – Udibilità is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hear, to perceive sounds with the ear: Nel buio udimmo un cane abbaiare.^[4][16][12]
2. To learn by hearsay, to hear said: Ho udito che il negozio chiuderà.^[4][16][12]
3. To listen to with attention; in law, to hear a witness or a party;^[4][16][12] udire messa, to attend Mass.^[4][16][12]
4. (literary) To heed prayers or advice, to grant them.^[4][16][12]
5. To understand, to catch what is said.^[4][16][13]
6. (poetic, intransitive) To listen, to stand listening.^[4][16][12]
7. (archaic) To attend someone's lessons as a pupil (udire da qualcuno).^[4][12][13]

Noun

1. (literary) The sense of hearing.^[4][16][15]

Word family

• udito
• udienza
• uditore
• uditorio
• uditivo
• udibile
• udibilità
• udente
• riudire
• traudire

Related words

• esaudire
• ubbidire
• audizione
• auditorio
• orecchio
• Latin audiō

Usage notes

The stem vowel is o- when stressed and u- when unstressed: odo, odi, ode, udiamo, udite, odono; the future is udirò or udrò.^[16][12][13] In everyday speech the verb is mostly replaced by sentire.^[14][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 458
6. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 2262
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b 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
16. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier