andare Italian · revision 37465

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=inherited|attested=1174–1180, Pisan inscription|origins=la ambulō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /anˈda.re/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''andare''' (first-person singular present vàdo, first-person singular past historic andài, past participle andàto, first-person singular future andrò, first-person singular subjunctive vàda, second-person singular imperative vài or và', auxiliary èssere)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la-med|andāre]], recorded in Latin documents of Tuscany in 801 and of southern Italy in 820,^(DEI|191)^(Wiktionary) and its origin is much disputed.^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|191)^(GRADIT 2003) Prati dates the southern record, in the Codex Cavensis, to 870 rather than 820.^(Prati 1951|53)

+

+ DELI, following Giuliano Bonfante and the long article of the LEI, derives the verb from [[la|ambulō|t=to walk]].^(DELI 1999)^(LEI|2, 596)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) Many other scholars have preferred a [[la-vul|*ambitō|t=to go around]], a frequentative of [[m|la|ambiō|t=to go round]],^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|191)^(Devoto 1968)^(REW 1935) and the TLIO finds this base convincing, since a Byzantine Greek verb of the 6th century seems to reflect it.^(TLIO) DEI objects that “*ambitare” explains only the northern forms of western Romance, not the central and southern Italian ones, which are recorded earlier; it derives central and southern [[annare]], and [[oc|anar]] and [[ca|anar]], from [[la|adnō|t=to swim towards; to come by ship]], and takes the forms with ⟨-nd-⟩ for an old remaking.^(DEI|191) Other proposals, such as a [[la|adeō|t=to go to]], have been made and rejected.^(Körting 1907)^(Prati 1951)

+

+ Nocentini sees four outcomes of “ambulare” in rings around an Italian centre: [[ro|umbla|t=to walk]] keeps the consonants; [[fr|aller]] and [[fur|lâ]] come from a form with the pretonic syllable lost and the consonants assimilated;^(Nocentini 2010) Catalan, Occitan and [[vec|anar]] go back to a form ⟨amnare⟩, found in a Late Latin inscription of the 6th century;^(Nocentini 2010) Italian “andare” and [[es|andar]] and [[pt|andar]] replaced ⟨-l-⟩ with ⟨-d-⟩ to match the forms taken from [[m|la|vādō|t=to go]].^(Nocentini 2010) The Sardinian form is [[m|sc|andare]].^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ The paradigm has been mixed since Latin: the stressed forms of the present indicative, subjunctive and imperative (⟨vado⟩, ⟨vai⟩, ⟨va⟩, ⟨vanno⟩, ⟨vada⟩) come from “vadere”, the others from “andare”.^(Nocentini 2010)^(LEI|2, 596)^(Treccani 2011) In Italian and French the verb took over the general sense of [[la|eō|t=to go]], while the sense “to walk” survives in Romanian and partly in Sardinian and Ibero-Romance.^(Nocentini 2010) Walde divided “ambulare” into the prefix [[m|la|amb-|t=around]] and a stem he compared with [[grc|ἀλάομαι|tr=aláomai|t=to wander]].^(Körting 1907)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first Italian record is a Pisan inscription of 1174–1180.^(TLIO) DELI's first date is the ''Breve di Montieri'' of 1219, where the verb means to move from place to place, on foot or by other means.^(DELI 1999) The noun, “the going”, is first found in the ''Parlamenti'' of Guido Faba, a Bolognese text of about 1243.^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The Old Italian verb already had most of its modern range: to set out and go along a way, to go with someone, to go about in a certain state, and to go towards a destination.^(TLIO) Dante's Virgil tells Minos not to hinder the poet's “fated going” (''Non impedir lo suo fatale andare'', ''Inferno'' 5.22).^(GDLI|1, 457) The sense “to belong in a place, to be meant to go somewhere” appears in Vasari, before 1574.^(DELI 1999) In the noun, Old Italian ''l'andare dell'uomo'' was human life itself, and ''andare'' was also a path.^(TLIO)

+

+ Modern uses extend the verb to machines that run, goods that sell, fashions that catch on, coins that are legal tender and situations that turn out well or badly.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(GRADIT 2003) With a past participle it forms a passive of obligation (''va fatto'', “it must be done”).^(Wiktionary) The construction ''andare a'' + infinitive in the sense “to be about to” was modelled on French ''aller''.^(DEI|191)

+

+ The derivatives are old: ''andata'' “going”, already in the Medieval Latin of Parma in 1266, ''andatura'' “gait” from the end of the 13th century, ''andamento'' “course” before 1313, and ''andazzo'', a bad custom, before 1400.^(DELI 1999) The participle ''andante'' “going” (1336, Boccaccio) became the name of a musical movement less slow than the adagio by 1758, and, in Giusti, an adjective for something ordinary or shoddy.^(DELI 1999) Sardinian borrowed the verb as ''andare'' and ''andai''.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 801 – Latin ''andare'' is recorded in a Tuscan document.^(DEI|191)

+ * 1174–1180 – A Pisan inscription has the first Italian record.^(TLIO)

+ * 1219 – The ''Breve di Montieri'' uses the verb for moving from place to place.^(DELI 1999)

+ * c. 1243 – Guido Faba uses the noun ''andare''.^(TLIO)

+ * 1266 – ''Andata'' is recorded in the Medieval Latin of Parma.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses ''andata''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1336 – Boccaccio uses the participle ''andante''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1574 – Vasari uses ''andare'' for where a thing belongs.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1758 – ''Andante'' is recorded as a musical term.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|go]], to move from one place to another, on foot or by some means of transport: ''Andiamo a scuola in bicicletta.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # To go to a place or to someone; of a train, to be bound for; of a road, to [[m|en|lead]]; of a river, to [[m|en|flow]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # To go somewhere for a purpose, often with ''a'' and an infinitive: ''andare a dormire''.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # To go away, to [[m|en|leave]]: ''Si è fatto tardi, devo andare.''^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # Of a machine or device, to [[m|en|work]], to run: ''La radio non va più.''^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # Of goods, to sell well; of a style, to be in [[m|en|fashion]].^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Of a situation or activity, to proceed, to turn out; to be right or acceptable: ''Così non va.''^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(impersonal)'' To be to someone's liking, to feel like: ''Ti va un gelato?''^(Wiktionary)

+ # With a past participle, to form a passive expressing obligation: ''Il modulo va firmato.''^(Wiktionary)

+ # Of money, to be legal [[m|en|tender]].^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # The act of going, [[m|en|movement]]: ''un andare e venire di gente''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # Way of walking, [[m|en|gait]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # Way of behaving, conduct.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[andazzo]]

+ * [[riandare]]

+ * [[andamento]]

+ * [[andante]]

+ * [[andata]]

+ * [[andatura]]

+ * [[andito]]

+ * [[andirivieni]]

+ * [[trasandare]]

+ * [[trasandato]]

+ * [[trasandatezza]]

+ * [[andarsene]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The imperative is ''va'', ''va’'' or ''vai'';^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011) ''va'' takes no written accent.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011) Set phrases with the noun include ''a lungo andare'' and ''con l'andare del tempo'', “in the long run, as time goes by”.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}