trovare Italian · revision 37509

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=inherited|attested=1294|origins=grc τρόπος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /troˈva.re/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''trovare''' (first-person singular present tròvo, first-person singular past historic trovài, past participle trovàto, auxiliary avére)^(Wiktionary)

+ The old present is ''truovo''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011) An Old Italian form ''trobare'' is found in the ''Ritmo cassinese''.^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin of this Romance verb, which has no counterpart in Latin, where the idea was expressed by [[la|reperiō]] and [[m|la|inveniō]], has been much discussed.^(DELI 1999) In the most widely accepted view it is [[inh|la-vul|*tropō|alt=*tropāre]], “to speak figuratively” or “to compose a melody”, hence “to invent” and “to find”, a verb formed from [[la|tropus|t=figure of speech; melody]], borrowed from [[grc|τρόπος|tr=trópos|t=turn, manner, mode]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(Wiktionary)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011) The ⟨-v-⟩ shows the northern voicing of ⟨-p-⟩.^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto 1968|455) The verb is indirectly attested in [[la-lat|contropō|alt=contropāre|t=to compare]], in Cassiodorus and the Visigothic laws, and its geographical centre is the land of the troubadours; the objection is that so common a verb would have come from the language of poets and composers.^(Nocentini 2010)^(DELI 1999) Gaston Paris proposed the Latin noun in 1878, Baist reconstructed the Vulgar Latin verb in 1888, and Spitzer derived it from the compound in 1940–1941.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The rival theory, put forward by Diez and defended by Schuchardt, derives it from [[la|turbō|t=to disturb]], from fishermen's practice of beating the water to drive out the fish;^(DELI 1999)^(REW 1935) Meyer-Lübke accepted it, and held that the Italian verb came from French.^(DELI 1999)^(REW 1935) Thomas objected that the sense “to beat” is never documented for the Latin verb and that the sound changes do not fit.^(DELI 1999)^(Körting 1907) A Germanic origin has found little support.^(DELI 1999) GRADIT and Sabatini–Coletti call the etymology uncertain or disputed.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ The same verb is [[fr|trouver]], [[oc|trobar]] and [[ca|trobar]], from which [[es|trovar|t=to versify]] was taken; in Romansh it came to mean “to pronounce judgement”.^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ GRADIT and Nocentini date the verb to 1294;^(GRADIT 2003)^(Nocentini 2010) DELI's first record of the sense “to come upon the person or thing one was looking for” is in Dante, 1300–1313.^(DELI 1999) Among GDLI's early quotations is the ''Ritmo cassinese'', with the form ''trobamo'', “we find”.^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The 14th century added most of the senses the verb has today: “to receive” in Dante, “to have” in Domenico Cavalca, “to discover” in Arrigo Simintendi, and in Boccaccio “to devise, invent”, “to catch in the act” and “to judge, consider”.^(DELI 1999) Petrarch (1374) uses it for coming upon something unexpectedly.^(DELI 1999) The pronominal ''trovarsi'' “to be situated” is in Dante, and “to happen to be somewhere” in the ''Fioretti di San Francesco''.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ Derivatives include ''trovatello'' “foundling”, whose Medieval Latin form is recorded at Modena in 1306, ''trovarobe'' “props manager” (1775), and ''trovata'' “clever idea”, which Fanfani and Arlìa called a barbarism in 1877.^(DEI|3918)^(DELI 1999) ''Trovatore'' “troubadour”, already in Guittone d'Arezzo, comes from Occitan.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1294 – First record of ''trovare''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1300–1313 – Dante uses it for finding what one looked for.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1306 – Medieval Latin ''trovadellus'' “foundling” is recorded at Modena.^(DEI|3918)

+ * 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for “to invent” and “to judge”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1374 – Petrarch uses it for coming upon something by chance.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1775 – ''Trovarobbe'' is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1877 – Fanfani and Arlìa condemn ''trovata''.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|find]] something one is looking for, or that was lost: ''finalmente ho trovato gli occhiali''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # To manage to get, obtain: ''trovare casa'', ''trovare un posto a sedere''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # To reach a desired state, to gain: ''in montagna ha trovato un po' di pace''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # To come across, meet by chance: ''ho trovato una lettera nella cassetta''.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(DELI 1999)

+ # To [[m|en|discover]], work out; to think up: ''ha trovato il modo di convincerla''.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # To consider, judge (also with ''che''): ''trovo che abbia ragione lei''.^(Wiktionary)^(DELI 1999)

+ # ''andare a trovare'': to [[m|en|visit]] someone: ''domani vado a trovare i nonni''.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(pronominal, trovarsi)'' To be situated; to find oneself, feel; to get on with someone: ''mi trovo bene qui''.^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ritrovare]]

+ * [[trovata]]

+ * [[trovatello]]

+ * [[trovarobe]]

+ * [[trovabile]]

+ * [[introvabile]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[trovatore]]

+ * [[troviero]]

+ * [[tropo]]

+ * [[fr|trouver]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The proverb ''chi cerca trova'' means “seek and you shall find”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011) A second ''trovare'', “to compose poetry”, now obsolete, is a borrowing of Old Occitan ''trobar'', probably of the same origin;^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) it is common in the Sicilian poets, as in Giacomo da Lentini's “di quei che di trovar non ànno posa” (of those who never rest from making verse), and DELI finds it in the memorials of the Bolognese notaries.^(GDLI)^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}