unire

Forms

unire (first-person singular present unìsco, first-person singular past historic unìi, past participle unìto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ūnīre (“to unite”), a verb derived from ūnus (“one”).^[2][3][4][1] Nocentini classes it as a learned borrowing, DEI as semi-learned, and Prati says it came by the literary route.^[3][5][6] The Latin verb is late: Devoto calls it non-classical, DEI cites it from Seneca and takes it as modelled on Ancient Greek ἑνίζω (henízō, “to unite”), and Tommaseo found it in Tertullian.^[7][5][8]

DELI notes that the verb and its participle ūnītus spread to all the Romance languages: Old French onir and later French unir, Occitan unir, Catalan unir, Spanish unir and Portuguese unir.^[2][9][10] Meyer-Lübke considered all of these learned except the Old French form.^[9]

For ūnus de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *oino- and Proto-Indo-European *Hoi-no- (“one”), as Old Latin oino shows, with cognates such as Old Irish óen and Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (ains).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Jacopone da Todi (before 1306), in the sense of joining or mixing things so that they become one;^[2] Dante has it in the wider sense of binding or associating closely (1304–1308).^[2] In the Convivio Dante writes that the more an agent unisce itself to what it acts on, the stronger the effect.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The reflexive unirsi “to accompany, keep company with” is dated about 1350, in the Italian translation of Pietro de' Crescenzi, and the reciprocal “to come together, form a union” before 1571, in Cellini.^[2] Binding people by moral or legal ties is recorded in Paolo Segneri (1673), and having two qualities at once, as in Giusti's che unisce il merito alla modestia (1840–1841), followed.^[2]

The sense “to bring to a common agreement” is dated 1891 and “to make common cause” 1939–1940.^[2] Modern dictionaries add mixing ingredients, enclosing a document, and linking two distant places with a road or a line.^[4][13][14] The noun unione and unità are learned words taken from Latin beside the verb, both from the 14th century.^[2][3]

Timeline

• Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses unire and unione.^[2]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses it for binding things closely.^[2]
• About 1350 – The reflexive “to keep company with” in the Crescenzi translation.^[2]
• Before 1571 – Cellini uses unirsi “to come together”.^[2]
• 1673 – Segneri uses it for moral or legal bonds.^[2]
• 1840–1841 – Giusti uses it for combining two qualities.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To join or put together two or more things so that they form a whole: Abbiamo unito le due scrivanie.^[4][13][14]
2. To merge into one body, especially political or economic: to unite states, companies.^[4][13]
3. To mix or add an ingredient: Unite lo zucchero alle uova.^[4][13][15]
4. To enclose, attach: to add a letter to an application.^[4][13]
5. To combine or join forces; to possess qualities together: unire l'utile al dilettevole.^[4][13][15]
6. To bind people by a moral or legal tie, or by shared interests: unire in matrimonio.^[4][14][16]
7. To connect two distant points or places: a bridge joining two towns.^[4][14][16]

Verb (reflexive: unirsi)

1. To join together, form a union, ally oneself; to join someone, keep them company: Si unì al gruppo all'ultimo momento.^[2][16][15]

Word family

• unibile
• unione
• unionista
• unità
• unitario
• unito
• unionismo
• disunire
• riunire
• riunione

Related words

• unitore
• uno
• Latin unus

Usage notes

The verb is conjugated with -isc-: unisco, unisci.^[13][15] An old homograph unire, a variant of onire “to dishonour”, is found in the Novellino.^[12] UNIRE is also the acronym of the national body for horse breeding and racing.^[4][13]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3954
6. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 1029
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana