volgere

Forms

volgere (first-person singular present vòlgo, first-person singular past historic vòlsi, past participle vòlto, auxiliary avére or (rarely, in an intransitive sense) èssere)^[1] Old and poetic forms are volvere and Old Italian vogliere; the GDLI also lists Old Italian voggere and voliere.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vŏlvere (“to roll, turn round”).^[5][6][7][1] The infinitive did not come straight from the Latin one: it was rebuilt on the first person singular volgo.^[6][8][5] Rohlfs explains this form after colgo from cogliere;^[5][8] DELI also allows the influence of a participle Vulgar Latin *voltus, beside the standard Latin volūtus.^[5][8] Devoto puts the steps in order: the participle gave the present form, on the pattern of colto beside its present, and the present gave the infinitive.^[9]

The same verb is Old French voudre, Occitan volvre, Spanish volver and Portuguese volver.^[6] DEI calls it panromance.^[3] The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Italic *welu-e/o- and a PIE *uel-u- (“to wind”).^[10] Related forms are Ancient Greek εἰλύω (eilúō, “to wind round”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌻𐍅𐌾𐌰𐌽 (walwjan, “to roll”) and Old English wealwian.^[10][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is intransitive, “to turn towards one side”, in Bencivenni in 1310.^[5] The transitive sense “to direct towards a place or point” follows in Dante (1313–19), who also uses the participle volto “turned”.^[5][7] Dante’s Pier delle Vigne says he held both keys of Frederick’s heart e che le volsi, / serrando e diserrando “and turned them, locking and unlocking”.^[7][11][4]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “to change from one tone or condition to another” is in Boccaccio (1348–53), with the pronominal volgersi “to pour out, vent itself”.^[5] Volgere “to draw near” (volgere al termine) dates from Tasso (1581), and “to tend towards” of colours from the Ricettario fiorentino (1567–1696).^[5] The reflexive “to turn to someone” is recorded in 1891, and “to devote oneself to” in 1939–40.^[5]

In Old Italian the verb also meant “to surround” (Dante: la cerchia che dintorno il volge) and “to wrap”.^[7][3][2] Tommaseo noted that voltare was used more of bodily turning, volgere of the mind and will.^[12] Today volgere belongs to a higher register, and everyday Italian prefers voltare, rivolgere or dirigere.^[13][8]

Timeline

• 1310 – Bencivenni uses intransitive volgere “to turn aside”.^[5]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses the participle volto “turned”.^[5]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses transitive volgere “to direct”.^[5][7]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses the verb for “to change into”.^[5]
• 1567–1696 – The Ricettario fiorentino uses it of colours, “to tend towards”.^[5]
• 1581 – Tasso uses it for “to draw near”.^[5]
• 1891 – The reflexive volgersi “to turn to” is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To turn or direct towards a place or point: volgere lo sguardo alla finestra.^[7][14][11]
2. (transitive, figurative) To direct one’s thoughts, feelings or efforts to an aim: volgere ogni energia a un solo scopo.^[7][14][8]
3. (transitive, figurative) To change, turn into something else: volgere tutto in burla;^[7][11][1] volgere in dubbio, to call into question.^[7][11][1]
4. (transitive, uncommon) To translate: volgere un passo dal greco in italiano.^[7][8][1]
5. (transitive, literary) To turn, rotate (a key, a wheel); volgere nella mente, to turn over in one’s mind, ponder.^[7][14][11]
6. (transitive, archaic) To surround, encircle.^[7][11][1]
7. (intransitive) To turn, bend in a direction: Dopo il ponte la strada volge a destra.^[8][11][1]
8. (intransitive) To draw near, tend towards: volgere al termine; of colours, to tend towards a shade.^[1][5][7]
9. (intransitive, literary) Of time, to pass.^[8][1]
10. (noun, singular only) il volgere, the passing of time: col volgere dei mesi.^[11]

Word family

• volto
• avvolgere
• capovolgere
• coinvolgere
• involgere
• rivolgere
• sconvolgere
• stravolgere
• travolgere
• svolgere
• ravvolgere
• voltura

Related words

• volta
• voltare
• volume
• Latin volvō
• Spanish volver

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
3. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4083
4. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier