vedere

Forms

vedere (first-person singular present védo, first-person singular past historic vìdi, past participle vìsto or (less popular) vedùto, first-person singular future vedrò, auxiliary avére)^[1] Literary and old forms include veggo and veggio “I see”, the subjunctive vegga and the present participle veggente.^[2][3][4] The past participle is visto or, less commonly, veduto.^[1][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin videō (“to see; to notice, consider”).^[5][6][7][1] The literary present ⟨veggio⟩ continues the Latin first person ⟨videō⟩ directly, and the participle ⟨veggente⟩ is formed on it.^[8]

The verb is panromance: French voir, Occitan vezer, Catalan veure, Spanish ver and Portuguese ver, Sardinian bìdere and Romanian vedea.^[6][9]

Latin ⟨videō⟩ continues Proto-Italic *widēō, a stative present of Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see, to know”).^[10][1] The root names seeing as a source of knowledge: its perfect means “I have seen, and so I know” in Ancient Greek οἶδα (oîda, “I know”), Sanskrit वेद (véda, “I know”) and Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍄 (wait, “I know”), and German wissen belongs to it too.^[6][11][10] Closest to the Latin present is Old Church Slavonic видѣти (viděti, “to see”).^[6][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the verb to 1295, and Nocentini, Devoto–Oli and DEI to the 13th century.^{[7][6][2][12]} In DELI's record, Dante (1300–1313) has the basic sense “perceive with the eyes”.^[5] Among GDLI's oldest quotations is a model letter of Guido Faba: Quando eo vego la vostra splendente persona, “When I see your shining person”.^[13]

Semantic evolution

Figurative senses appear early: Dante uses the verb for “contemplate with the mind or with faith” and for “foresee”, and, from 1313–1319 for “understand”.^[5] Francesco da Barberino has it for “consider” in the 14th century.^[12][8] The sense “visit” is found before 1444 in the chronicle of Giovanni Morelli, “meet” in Ariosto (1532), and “examine, read” before 1580 in Vincenzio Borghini.^[5] The infinitive is also a noun, il vedere “sight, the act of seeing”: Dante writes il mio veder fu maggio / che 'l parlar mostra “my seeing was greater than speech can show” (Paradiso 33).^[14][15]

In the 16th century Bembo held that ho visto, used by Petrarch, was not Tuscan, perhaps because the ending reminded him of northern participles, while Borghesi claimed that careful writers used only veduto.^[5] Today visto and veduto alternate with no real difference.^[5]

Vedetta “lookout post” belongs to the family only indirectly: it is an older veletta reshaped after vedere.^[5][12] It passed into French as vedette in the 16th century and into English by 1690.^[12] The phrase vedere le stelle “see stars, feel sharp pain” goes back to Berni in the 16th century, compare French voir des étoiles en plein midi.^[12] The euphemism non vedente “blind” (1970) follows French non-voyant, and visualizzare follows English visualize.^[5]

Timeline

• Before 1294 – Veduta, “sight, the faculty of seeing”, in Brunetto Latini.^[5]
• 1295 – The first record of vedere in GRADIT.^[7]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses the verb for seeing and for foreseeing.^[5]
• 1313–1319 – The sense “understand” in Dante.^[5]
• Before 1444 – The sense “visit” in Giovanni Morelli's chronicle.^[5]
• 16th century – Vedetta is recorded, and passes into French as vedette.^[12]
• 1690 – English vedette.^[12]
• 1891 – Petrocchi records the noun il vedere “the act of seeing”.^[5]
• 1922 – The noun in the sense “opinion” (a mio vedere) in Zingarelli.^[5]
• 1970 – Non vedente “blind” in Zingarelli.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To see, perceive with the eyes: Dal balcone vedevamo le barche nel porto.^[7][2][15]
2. To have the faculty of sight, to be able to see, also vederci: Senza luce non ci vedo.^[7][2]
3. To watch or be present at an event or show: vedere un film, vedere la partita.^[7][15][1]
4. To meet or visit someone; reflexive, to meet each other: Ci vediamo domani alla stazione.^[7][1]
5. To examine, check or consult: Devo vedere i conti del mese.^[15][5]
6. To understand, grasp; to imagine or picture in the mind: Non vedo dove sia il problema.^[5][1][3]
7. To see to it, make sure, try: Vedi di arrivare puntuale.^[1][5]

Noun

1. Sight, the act of seeing; appearance, as in fare un bel vedere, to look fine.^[14][15]
2. Opinion, judgement, in a mio vedere, in my view.^[15][5]

Word family

• vedente
• veduta
• vedutista
• veduto
• visto
• vista
• vistoso
• svista
• visibile
• visivo
• avvedersi
• avveduto
• ravvedersi
• intravedere
• travedere
• stravedere

Related words

• prevedere
• provvedere
• rivedere
• vedetta
• video
• visione
• viso
• Latin videō
• French voir

Usage notes

Common phrases include non vedere l'ora “look forward eagerly”, avere a che vedere con “have to do with”, farsi vedere “show oneself” and stare a vedere “wait and see”.^[7][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
4. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 1040
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 465
12. ^ a b c d e f g Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3998
13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
14. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21, 695
15. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse