vanire

Forms

vanire (first-person singular present vanìsco, first-person singular past historic vanìi, past participle vanìto, auxiliary èssere)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian vano + -ire, “empty, vain”, as most dictionaries explain it.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} The DEI and Wiktionary derive it instead from Latin vānēscō (“to vanish”), itself formed from vānus (“empty”) with the inchoative suffix -ēscō; on this view the verb was taken into the fourth conjugation, which gave the Italian verbs in ⟨-ire⟩.^[9][1][10] Treccani and the GDLI compare the Latin verb without deriving the Italian one from it.^[6][8]

The Latin adjective is of Indo-European origin, from a root Proto-Indo-European *wā- also seen in vacuus (“empty”) and vastus (“desolate”).^[11][12] Its compound ēvānēscō lives on in svanire and Old French esvanir.^[13] The modern French évanouir was formed on the Vulgate's ⟨evanuit⟩ “he vanished”.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini and Zingarelli date the verb before 1294.^[11][5] Its best-known early use is Dante's of Piccarda in the Paradiso: cantando vanio / come per acqua cupa cosa grave (“singing she vanished, as a heavy thing sinks through deep water”).^[2][4][8]

Semantic evolution

The verb has stayed literary and poetic.^[2][3][5] Early writers used it of figures that vanish from sight: in Ugurgieri, Creusa vame nell'aire (“goes off into the air”).^[8] Later writers used it too: Tommaseo, Pascoli of Troy vanishing in a red whirl, Soffici of mountains fading in the glare, Pirandello and Montale, and it was also said of a cloud, smoke or mist dissolving.^[8][6][14]

Its prefixed form svanire became the everyday word;^[11][12] Nocentini derives it from vanire with an intensive ⟨s-⟩, DELI from vano directly.^[11][12] Tommaseo marked vanire with a dagger as obsolete.^[15]

Timeline

• Before 1294 – Vanire is first recorded.^[11][5]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it in the Paradiso.^[2][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (literary) To vanish, fade away little by little until nothing is left: Il fumo vaniva lento sopra i tetti.^[2][3][4][6]
2. (literary) To dissolve, disperse, of a cloud, smoke or mist.^[8][1]

Word family

• svanire

Related words

• vano
• evanescente
• Latin vanus

Usage notes

The verb takes essere and the ⟨-isc-⟩ forms: vanisco, vanisci.^[3][4] The old past historic vanio is Dante's form beside modern vanì.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ 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)
7. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
8. ^ a b c d e f g Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3987
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET