visitare

Forms

visitare (first-person singular present vìsito, first-person singular past historic visitài, past participle visitàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] The Old Italian form vicitare is common, beside vigitare, visetare and vexitar.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin vīsitō (“to see often; to visit”), a learned word.^[3][4][5] The Latin verb is a frequentative of vīsō (“to go to see, look at”), which is formed on vīsus, the past participle of videō (“to see”).^[3][4][6][7] Latin already used it of visiting the sick, and Ecclesiastical Latin gave it further senses unknown to classical Latin.^[3]

The same learned word is French visiter, recorded from the 12th century, and Spanish visitar.^[4][8] Nocentini derives the Italian rovistare from the same Latin verb.^[4] Popular outcomes survive in the dialects and other Romance languages: Old Venetian visidar, Engadine vischder “to visit a woman after childbirth”, and Old French visder.^[9] Sicilian and Calabrian visitu means a visit of condolence, and Logudorese vizidu means mourning.^[9][8]

Tommaseo–Bellini explains the old form vicitare as an exchange of ⟨s⟩ and ⟨c⟩, the reverse of lassare for lasciare.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio, from the Marche, of the second half of the 12th century: Vissetava infirmitate / et prosperava in paupertate (“he visited the sick and throve in poverty”).^[2][7] The sense is going to see someone, especially out of charity.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb also figuratively in a spiritual sense, in a sexual sense, for an inspection by a lay or church authority, and for going to a place, especially as a pilgrim.^[2] Dante uses it for going to a place (1300–1313), and Boccaccio and the Fioretti di San Francesco for visiting a person.^[3] Two of the seven corporal works of mercy are visitare gli infermi and visitare i carcerati.^[5][11]

The medical sense “to examine a patient” is recorded in Varchi, before 1565, and the absolute “to see patients” in Tommaseo–Bellini in 1879.^[3] The noun visita (before 1556, G. Della Casa) took over from visitazione, which survives for the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth.^[3] Visitors to museums and monuments appear in 1843.^[3] In the language of the internet one visita a website.^[12]

Timeline

• Second half of the 12th century – The Ritmo di Sant'Alessio has vissetava.^[2][7]
• 13th or 14th century – The form vicitare appears in the Fiore.^[3]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses the verb for going to a place.^[3]
• 14th century – Boccaccio uses it for visiting a person.^[3]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses visitazione “visit”.^[3]
• Before 1556 – The noun visita appears in G. Della Casa.^[3]
• Before 1565 – Varchi uses the verb for a medical examination.^[3]
• 1585 – Visitatore apostolico is recorded.^[3]
• 1754 – Rivisitare “to visit again” is recorded.^[4]
• 1801 – Visitare “to inspect” appears in the Milanese press.^[3]
• 1843 – Visitatore is used of visitors to museums and monuments.^[3]
• 1879 – Tommaseo–Bellini records the absolute use “to see patients”.^[3]
• 1974 – Rivisitazione is first recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To visit, go and see someone and spend time with them: Domenica andiamo a visitare i nonni in campagna.^[5][13][14]
2. (transitive, medicine) To examine a patient: Lo specialista mi ha visitato e mi ha prescritto delle analisi. Also absolute, “to see patients”: La dottoressa visita il giovedì.^[5][13][14]
3. (transitive) To visit a place for leisure, study or work: L'estate scorsa abbiamo visitato Napoli e Pompei.^[5][13][14]
4. (transitive, uncommon) To inspect, check: Il comandante ha visitato le cucine della nave.^[5][14][11]
5. (transitive, computing) To visit a website.^[12]
6. (literary, figurative) Of God, to send someone trials: essere visitato dal Signore.^[13][11]
7. (obsolete) To frequent.^[11]

Word family

• visita
• visitatore
• visitazione
• rivisitare
• rivisitazione
• visitabile

Related words

• vedere
• rovistare
• French visiter
• Latin vīsitō

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
7. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21, 922
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4068
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
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
14. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse