vantare

Forms

vantare (first-person singular present vànto, first-person singular past historic vantài, past participle vantàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin vānitāre (“to be vain”), a late verb first found in Augustine (before 430), formed from vānitās (“emptiness, boasting, falsehood”), which comes from vānus (“empty; useless; frivolous”).^[2][3][4][1] Devoto calls it an intensive verb formed from vānus.^[5] The verb is also French vanter, recorded from the 12th century, and Occitan vantar and Portuguese vantar.^[3][6][7] Meyer-Lübke took the Italian word, and Sardinian bantare in Logudorese, as a loan from French or Occitan.^[7]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *wāno- or *wāsno-; de Vaan gives several possible PIE forms, among them Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“empty, leave, abandon”), and compares Sanskrit, Avestan, Greek and Gothic words for “empty”, “missing” and “to disappear”.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the reflexive vantarsi in Brunetto Latini, who died in 1294, in the sense “to boast of one's own gifts and merits”.^[2][4] Latini also has the agent noun vantatore, for the man who claims more than the truth, between the truthful man and the humble one.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The transitive verb, “to praise with display, extol as excellent”, is recorded in the 14th century in Bartolomeo da San Concordio, in the vernacular Saint Augustine, in Boccaccio and in Dante's Convivio;^[2] Boccaccio also used it for being proud of something.^[2] The noun vanto, “boast”, appears in 1303 and in Dante also means a reason for praise, a merit.^[2]

In the 16th century Benedetto Varchi praised the verb: besides Latin gloriarsi, Italian had the finer vantarsi or darsi vanto.^[2] In the language of medieval chivalry the reflexive also meant to make the knight's vanto, the formal boast.^[9][10][11] Modern Italian uses the verb for claiming something as one's own, a right or a credit, and for owning something that is a source of pride, as a town that has fine monuments.^[4][12]

Timeline

• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses vantarsi “to boast” and vantatore “boaster”.^[2]
• 1303 – Vanto “boast” is first recorded.^[2]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses vanto for a merit or reason for praise.^[2]
• 14th century – The transitive vantare “to praise ostentatiously” appears.^[2]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses the verb for being proud of something.^[2]
• Before 1565 – Benedetto Varchi praises vantarsi as finer than the Latinism gloriarsi.^[2]
• Before 1729 – Vanteria “boastfulness” is first recorded, in Anton Maria Salvini.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To praise, extol: to speak highly of something or someone, often beyond their merits: vantare i pregi della propria città.^[4][13][9]
2. To boast of, to claim or really have something that is a source of pride or superiority: vantare antenati illustri;^[4][9][11] il museo vanta tre tele di Caravaggio.^[4][9][11]
3. (law) To lay claim to something one is entitled to, such as a right or a credit.^[4][13][10]
4. (reflexive, vantarsi) To boast, to pride oneself on something, true or imagined: si vanta sempre dei suoi voti.^[13][9][10]
5. (reflexive, historical) In the Middle Ages, to make a knight's formal boast.^[9][10][11]

Word family

• vanto
• vantatore
• vanteria
• vantamento
• vantanza

Related words

• vano
• vanità
• French vanter
• Latin vanus

Usage notes

Non (faccio) per vantarmi, ma… (“I don't mean to boast, but…”) introduces, with mock modesty, something to one's credit.^[13][11][10]

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 l m n Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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
6. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3987
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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
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