Etymology and origin of the Italian word versare
versare1 to pour
Etymology tree of versare1
From the same root · versare1
Pronunciation
- /verˈsa.re/[1]
Forms
versare (first-person singular present vèrso, first-person singular past historic versài, past participle versàto, auxiliary avére)[1]
Etymology
The word for pouring is inherited from Latin versō (“to turn, turn over”).[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb is the intensive of vertō (“to turn”), and its many senses all go back to “to make something come out by turning a vessel over”.[2][3][5] The word is pan-Romance: French verser, Occitan versar, Catalan vessar, Portuguese vessar (“to plough”) and Romanian vărsa.[3][6] Everywhere it means “to pour in”, except in Galician and Portuguese, where it means “to plough”.[6]
The Latin verb comes from Proto-Italic *wertō, from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn”).[1] DELI notes that it belongs to a large Indo-European family.[2]
The banking sense “to pay in, deposit” is newer and came from French, where the verb has it from 1788 and the noun versement from 1772; the purists objected to it for that reason.[2][7][1] versante “slope of a mountain” likewise follows French versant (1800).[2][3]
Earliest recorded meaning
The first record is in the Novellino of the late 13th century, for making a liquid or other contents come out by tipping or overturning the vessel: Tutte le noci fece versare per la sala (“he had all the nuts poured out across the hall”).[2][8]
Semantic evolution
Petrarch used the verb for scattering and for overturning (1374), and about 1350 the pronominal versarsi meant to pour out and spread, also figuratively.[2] DEI records other old uses: “to squander” in the 13th century, versarsi “to fly into a rage” in the 14th, and of cracked vessels “to leak” in the 15th.[9] Before 1600 Davanzati used it of rivers flowing into another, and in 1812 Bernardoni listed it for making things converge.[2] Dante used it in the old sense “to turn, change”.[4]
The sense “to deposit a sum” appears before 1831 in Pietro Colletta;[2] Tommaseo in 1872 called it inelegant but less ugly than versamento.[2] Versamento is found before 1712 in Magalotti, in medicine for an effusion of fluid from 1822, and for a bank deposit from 1815.[2] Common figurative phrases are versare lacrime “to weep”, versare sangue “to bleed, shed blood” and versare fiumi d'inchiostro, “to write a great deal”.[4][10][11]
Timeline
- Late 13th century – First record, in the Novellino.[2]
- About 1350 – Versarsi “to pour out, spread” in the Italian Crescenzi.[2]
- 1374 – Petrarch uses it for “to scatter” and “to overturn”.[2]
- Before 1712 – Versamento in Magalotti.[2]
- 1815 – Versamento “bank deposit”.[2]
- Before 1831 – Colletta uses the verb for depositing a sum.[2]
- 1839 – Versante “mountain slope” is recorded.[2]
Meanings
Verb
- To pour a liquid out of a container; to pour a drink, to serve: Ho versato il latte nella tazza.[4][12][13]
- To tip out loose material such as sand, flour or grain.[4][12]
- To spill by accident: Attento, hai versato lo zucchero sulla tovaglia![4][12][13]
- Of a container or wound, to let out its contents, to leak: Il secchio è bucato e versa.[4][12][10]
- Of a river, to discharge its waters into another body of water.[4][13][10]
- (figurative, literary) To pour out one's feelings, to confide them.[4][10][11]
- (banking) To pay in or deposit a sum; to pay: Ho già versato la caparra per l'appartamento.[4][10][14]
- (archaic, poetic) To turn; to change.[4][14]
Word family
- versamento
- versante
- versatoio
- versatore
- riversare
- riversamento
- sversare
versare2 to be (in a situation)
Etymology tree of versare2
From the same root · versare2
Pronunciation
- /verˈsa.re/[1]
Forms
versare (first-person singular present vèrso, first-person singular past historic versài, past participle versàto, auxiliary avére or èssere)[1]
Etymology
The word for being in a situation is borrowed from Latin versārī (“to move about; to dwell; to be engaged in”), the middle-passive of versō (“to turn, turn over”).[3][1][7] GRADIT takes it from Medieval Latin.[4] From “to turn about” the Latin verb came to mean “to be found, to stay, to be”, and in particular “to move within a field, to be busy with something”.[2][7] The same Latin verb gave Spanish versar.[3]
From the Latin past participle come versato “versed, skilled”, recorded before 1529 in Castiglione, and versatile.[2][3]
Earliest recorded meaning
The first record is in the Milanese press of 1816, in the rare sense “to have as its subject”; the main sense “to be, to find oneself” is recorded in the same press in 1842.[2][4][13] The GDLI quotes the sense “to be in a situation” from older writers such as Caviceo and Davila: Tu versi in grande errore (“you are in great error”).[15]
Semantic evolution
The verb is used mostly of bad conditions: poverty, danger, illness.[4][13][7] In old and literary use it could also mean to live in a place.[7][1] DELI notes that the example of versato from Giordano da Pisa found in the dictionaries was forged by Francesco Redi.[2]
Timeline
- Before 1529 – Versato “skilled” in Baldassare Castiglione.[2]
- 1816 – The verb is used for “to have as its subject” in the Milanese press.[2][4]
- 1842 – The sense “to be, to find oneself” is recorded.[2]
Meanings
Verb
- To be or find oneself in a given condition, usually a bad one: La ditta versa in gravi difficoltà economiche.[4][13][7]
- (uncommon) Of a talk or text, to deal with, to concern: Il convegno verserà sulla storia del porto.[4][13]
- (archaic, literary) To be or live in a place.[7][1]
Word family
- versato
- versatile
- versatilità
Related words
Usage notes
GRADIT records a third, obsolete versare “to write verses”, formed from verso in the 20th century, and the GDLI the same verb as old and literary, with quotations from Anton Maria Salvini and D'Annunzio.[4][16] DEI notes it as a jocular word for making verses.[9] Versare “to be in a situation” takes avere or essere.[7]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
- ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
- ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
- ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
- ^ a b c d e f g h Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
- ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
- ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4031
- ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
- ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
- ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
- ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21, 797
- ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21, 798
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Versare.” Etymologically, 10 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/it/versare. Accessed 11 Nov. 2026.
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