rovinare Italian · revision 38474

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=before 1292, Bono Giamboni|origins=la ruō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ro.viˈna.re/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''rovinare''' (first-person singular present rovìno, first-person singular past historic rovinài, past participle rovinàto, auxiliary (transitive) avére or (intransitive) èssere)^(Wiktionary)

+ Older forms are [[ruvinare]] and [[ruinare]], the second still literary.^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|it|rovina|-are|t1=collapse, ruin]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(GDLI)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) Wiktionary takes it instead from [[la|ruīnō|t=to overthrow; to fall]], which Meyer-Lübke and Körting give as the source of the Italian, Milanese and other dialect verbs and of [[fr|ruiner]], [[es|ruinar]] and [[pt|ruinar]].^(Wiktionary)^(REW 1935)^(Körting 1907)

+

+ The noun is [[la|ruīna|t=fall, collapse; ruins]], from [[m|la|ruō|t=to rush down, fall headlong]], a verb with no sure relatives outside Latin.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) The ⟨v⟩ of “rovina” was inserted to break the hiatus of “ruina”, as in “Genova” and “vedova”.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|3290)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Before 1292 Bono Giamboni has ''ruvinare'' and ''ruinare'' in the sense “to collapse with force and noise”, said of walls and buildings.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI) Giovanni Villani writes (before 1348) that after the siege “rovinarono delle mura di Palermo più di CCC braccia” (“more than three hundred ''braccia'' of the walls of Palermo collapsed”).^(GDLI)^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Dante uses the verb of a person plunging down: “Mentre ch'i' rovinava in basso loco” (“while I was rushing down to a low place”, ''Inferno'' 1).^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) The transitive sense “to bring down, demolish” is in Giordano da Pisa (before 1311), the figurative “to bring to ruin or poverty” in Davanzati (before 1600), the reflexive “to suffer serious harm” in 1582, and “to spoil, damage” in D'Alberti's dictionary of 1804.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The proverb ''l'acqua cheta rovina i ponti'' (“still water brings down bridges”) warns that quiet, meek-seeming people can be dangerous.^(Devoto–Oli 2026) Sabatini–Coletti mark the transitive sense “to demolish” as uncommon.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses ''ruvinare'' and ''ruinare''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1300–1313 – Dante uses it of a person plunging down.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1311 – Giordano da Pisa uses the transitive “to demolish”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses the form ''rovinare''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1582 – The reflexive “to suffer serious harm” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1600 – Davanzati uses it for “to bring to ruin”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1804 – D'Alberti records “to spoil, damage”.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|spoil]], damage: ''La grandine ha rovinato tutta la vendemmia.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # To harm someone's health or a part of the body.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # ''(figurative)'' To [[m|en|ruin]] morally, to compromise a reputation or a career.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(figurative)'' To reduce to poverty, to bankrupt: ''Il gioco d'azzardo lo ha rovinato.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # To knock down, demolish.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # (intransitive, with ''essere'') Of a building, to [[m|en|collapse]]: ''Il vecchio campanile è rovinato durante la notte.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # (intransitive) To fall violently from above, to crash down; of a person, to fall heavily.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(pronominal, rovinarsi)'' To ruin oneself; of things, to get spoiled.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[rovinio]]

+ * [[rovinamento]]

+ * [[rovinatore]]

+ * [[rovinevole]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[rovina]]

+ * [[rovinoso]]

+ * [[la|ruīna]]

+ * [[fr|ruiner]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}