voltare

Forms

voltare (first-person singular present vòlto, first-person singular past historic voltài, past participle voltàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *voltāre, a shortened form of *volvitāre.^[2][3][4][5] This was an iterative verb formed from *volvitus, a past participle of Latin volvō (“to turn, roll”) that replaced the classical volūtum.^[2][3] In Vulgar Latin it took the place of the classical volūtāre and of the simple verb.^[2][4][6]

It belongs to Italy and the western Romance area: Old French vouter, Catalan voltar and Portuguese voltar, and Meyer-Lübke adds Sardinian boltare and Venetian voltar.^[7][3][8] French volter was taken from Italian in the 15th century.^[7][9] DELI explains volta as a noun formed from the verb or, more easily, from a Vulgar Latin *volvita;^[2] Migliorini derived its abstract sense from oxen turning at the end of a field.^[2]

De Vaan derives the Latin verb from Proto-Indo-European *u̯el-u- (“to wind”), with Ancient Greek εἰλύω (eilúō, “to wind round”) among its cognates.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Dante, 1300–1313, with the intransitive sense “to change direction”.^[2] In the Inferno Dante also uses the verb for rolling weights, voltando pesi per forza di poppa, and for the storm that whirls the souls round, voltando e percotendo li molesta.^[11][12]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio uses the verb for turning the body or a part of it in a direction (1348–53), and Saviozzo for turning a thing so that its other side shows (1420).^[2] In the language of horsemanship it meant turning a horse round, from the first half of the 16th century, and in this sense it passed into French (volter, 1536) and German (voltieren, 1570).^[9] Old uses were “to translate”, in Salvini, and “to transfer debts, credits or property to another person”, from which the noun voltura comes.^[13][6]

Tommaseo describes voltare as originally a frequentative of volgere, used for a less delicate movement, and Treccani notes that volgere competes with it in a more elevated register.^[12][6] Many figurative phrases use it: voltare le spalle “to turn one's back”, voltare pagina “to turn the page”, voltare gabbana or voltare casacca “to change sides”.^[11][14][4] The derivative volteggiare gave French voltiger.^[8]

Timeline

• 1300–1313 – Dante uses voltare for changing direction.^[2]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for turning the body.^[2]
• 1420 – Saviozzo uses it for turning a thing over.^[2]
• 1440–1460 – French volter is first recorded.^[9]
• First half of the 16th century – The verb is used for turning a horse.^[9]
• 1570 – German voltieren is recorded in riding.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To turn (a part of the body) in another direction: voltare la testa verso la porta.^[4][15][11]
2. (transitive) To turn (a vehicle, an animal) in another or the opposite direction: voltare la barca verso il porto.^[4][15][11]
3. (transitive) To turn over, so that the other side shows: voltare la clessidra.^[4][5][11]
4. (transitive) To go round, pass: voltare l'angolo.^[4][5][11]
5. (transitive, literary) To translate: voltare una poesia in latino.^[4][5][11]
6. (transitive, rare) To change the sense or purpose of something: voltare tutto in scherzo.^[4][11]
7. (transitive, obsolete) To transfer (debts, credits, property) to another person.^[4][5][6]
8. (intransitive) To turn, change direction: Al semaforo volta a destra.^[4][5][15]
9. (intransitive) Of the weather, to change: Verso sera il cielo voltò al sereno..^[4]
10. voltarsi (pronominal): to turn round, turn towards someone or something.^[5][15]

Word family

• volta
• svoltare
• rivoltare
• voltata
• voltafaccia
• voltagabbana
• voltapietre
• voltastomaco
• volteggiare
• voltolare
• voltura

Related words

• volgere
• Latin volvō
• French volter

Usage notes

GRADIT has a separate, uncommon technical verb voltare “to cover a room or building with a vault”, recorded in 1465–69 and formed from volta “vault”;^[4][16] GDLI compares French voûter (13th century).^[4][16]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4086
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d e Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
10. ^ 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. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 1062
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ 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
16. ^ 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, 1005