ballare Italian · revision 38453

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=about 1282, Restoro d'Arezzo|origins=grc βάλλω}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /balˈla.re/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ballare''' (first-person singular present bàllo, first-person singular past historic ballài, past participle ballàto, auxiliary avére)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old and dialect forms include [[roa-oit|balare]] (Arezzo, about 1282, Genoese, before 1311), [[scn|ballari]] and [[pms|balè]].^(LEI|4, 791)^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la-lat|ballō|t=to dance; to sway]], recorded in Saint Augustine in 393.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(LEI|4, 791)^(Wiktionary) Inscriptions with [[la|baliator]] at Pompeii (before 79) and [[m|la|ballator|alt=ballatores]] at Rome (3rd century) suggest that the verb existed in spoken Latin much earlier.^(LEI|4, 791) The Latin word is usually traced to [[grc|βάλλω|tr=bállō|t=to throw]]: the sense “to leap, sway” is found in its variant [[m|grc|πάλλω|tr=pállō|t=to shake]], and “to dance” in [[m|grc|βαλλίζω|tr=ballízō]], recorded in the Greek of Sicily and southern Italy, with which the Latin verb is glossed.^(Nocentini 2010)^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|416)^(GRADIT 2003) O. Haas proposed instead an orgiastic dance word [[m|grc|βαλλίζω|tr=ballízein|alt=βαλλίζειν]] of Magna Graecia, from a Greek word for the phallus corresponding to [[grc|φαλλός|tr=phallós]].^(DELI 1999) Others linked it with [[la|balla|t=ball]] or thought it imitative, but the LEI finds these views at odds with the Latin records, and DELI warns that the history is less simple than it looks.^(LEI|4, 791)^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The verb is [[fro|baler]], [[oc|balar]], [[ca|ballar]] and [[fur|balâ]], and [[es|bailar]] and [[pt|bailar]] with an unexplained ⟨-i-⟩; it is not found in Romanian.^(Nocentini 2010)^(LEI|4, 791)^(DEI|416)^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is in Restoro d'Arezzo, 1282, in the Aretine form ''balare''.^(TLIO)^(Nocentini 2010)^(LEI|4, 791) The sense is “to move to the rhythm of music”, often with others and as a ritual or a pastime.^(TLIO) DELI's first date is Dante, before 1321;^(DELI 1999)^(Zingarelli 2010) Zingarelli has before 1257.^(DELI 1999)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Dante, in ''Purgatorio'' 28, writes of ''donna che balli'', a woman dancing with her feet close to the ground.^(GDLI)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) Old Italian already had figurative uses: “to fidget”, and ''essere in ballo e ballare'', “to be in it and have to dance”, that is to see a difficult business through, still a proverb today.^(TLIO)^(Zingarelli 2010) The transitive “to dance (a dance)” is in the 14th-century translation of Saint Augustine.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ Later senses follow the idea of movement: “to wobble, shake, jolt” (Garzoni, before 1589), and of clothes, “to be too big” (Cellini, before 1571).^(DELI 1999) The proverb ''quando il gatto non c’è i topi ballano'' (when the cat is away the mice dance) is common to the dictionaries.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011) The derivatives ''ballo'', ''ballerino'' (1342) and ''ballerina'' (Lorenzo de' Medici) are native, but ''ballata'', the old dance song, came from [[pro|balada]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(DELI 1999) Sardinian borrowed the Italian verb.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Before 79 – ''Baliator'' “dancer” is written on a wall at Pompeii.^(LEI|4, 791)

+ * 393 – Saint Augustine uses Latin ''ballare''.^(LEI|4, 791)^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo has ''balare''.^(TLIO)^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1300–1313 – Dante uses the verb for leaping, skipping.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1321 – Dante uses ''ballare'' “to dance”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1342 – ''Ballerino'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * Before 1571 – Cellini says a garment ''balla'' when it is too big.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1589 – Garzoni uses the verb for “to wobble, jolt”.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|dance]]: to move in time to music: ''Hanno ballato fino all’alba.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To be unable to keep still, from nerves or joy; to shiver with cold.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # Of things, to [[m|en|wobble]], be unsteady; to vibrate or jolt: ''Questa sedia balla.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Of clothes or a ring, to be too large: ''Le scarpe mi ballano.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(sport)'' Of a team or defence, to be unable to hold back the opponents.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # ''(transitive)'' To dance a particular dance: ''ballare la mazurka''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ballo]]

+ * [[balletto]]

+ * [[ballata]]

+ * [[ballerino]]

+ * [[ballerina]]

+ * [[ballabile]]

+ * [[traballare]]

+ * [[ballonzolare]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la-lat|ballō]]

+ * [[grc|βάλλω|tr=bállō]]

+ * [[fr|bal]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Far ballare qualcuno'' is to make someone do one's bidding, or in sport to run rings round opponents;^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)^(Zingarelli 2010) ''far ballare i soldi'' is to spend them;^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)^(Zingarelli 2010) ''ora si balla!'' means “now things get serious”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)^(Zingarelli 2010) ''Quando si è in ballo bisogna ballare'': once you have started something, you must go on with it.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}