urinare

Forms

urinare (first-person singular present urìno, first-person singular past historic urinài, past participle urinàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is the form of orinare with the vowel of the Latin word: Treccani derives it from Italian urina, and the GDLI calls it a form parallel to orinare.^[2][3] Wiktionary takes it from Latin ūrīnāre, an early form of the deponent verb meaning “to dive, plunge into water”.^[1][4] The TLIO and DELI derive orinare from the Latin of the physicians, ūrīnārī.^[5][6]

The noun urina is a learned form of Latin ūrīna, beside the popular orina, whose ⟨o-⟩ goes back to a Vulgar Latin *aurīna associated with aurum (“gold”) for its yellow colour.^[6][7] The origin of the Latin noun is uncertain.^[6] DELI suggests the first sense was “puddle”, as the verb “to dive” would show, and that “urine” arose among physicians under the influence of Ancient Greek οὐρέω (ouréō, “to urinate”).^[6] Nocentini compares οὖρον (oûron, “urine”), Sanskrit वारि (vāri, “water”) and Avestan vār- (“rain”), and thinks “urine” was a euphemistic use of a word for water.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb orinare is first recorded after 1298 in the Questioni filosofiche, and the TLIO counts urinare and urinano among its Old Italian forms.^[5][7] The first quotation in the GDLI is from Cecco d'Ascoli, who asks why a man trembles all over when he urinates (Perché l'uom trema tutto quando urina?).^[3]

Semantic evolution

The GDLI's quotations follow the verb through Pigafetta's account of the Moors, who sit down to urinate, and the 16th-century Fasciculo di medicina volgare and Erbolario volgare.^[3] It also has the transitive sense “to pass blood with the urine”, in Sanudo.^[3] Tommaseo marked urinare as obsolete, though he quoted Redi, who used it often in his medical letters.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To urinate, to pass urine, the same as orinare.^[2][3][1]
2. (transitive) To pass something with the urine: urinare sangue.^[2][3][1]

Related words

• urina
• orinare
• orina
• Latin ūrīna

Usage notes

Urinare is a variant of orinare, which the dictionaries treat as the main form.^{[9][10][11][12]} It takes the auxiliary avere.^[2][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
3. ^ a b c d e f Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
6. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)