bastare Italian · revision 38546

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=inherited|attested=1253, Poemetto didattico|origins=grc βαστάζω}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /basˈta.re/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''bastare''' (first-person singular present bàsto, first-person singular past historic bastài, past participle bastàto, auxiliary èssere)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la-vul|*bastō|alt=*bastāre]], a verb not recorded in classical Latin;^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|455)^(LEI|5, 96)^(Wiktionary) Medieval Latin has “bastare” in Uguccione's dictionary.^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|455)^(LEI|5, 96)^(Wiktionary) The same verb is [[pro|bastar]], [[ca|bastar]], [[es|bastar]], [[pt|bastar]] and [[rm|bastar]], but it is missing in Romanian; in Occitan, Catalan and Spanish it replaced [[la|sufficiō|t=to be enough]].^(LEI|5, 96)^(DEI|455) [[fro|baster]] (before 1270) was taken from Italian, and the interjection [[fr|baste]] comes from Italian [[basta]].^(LEI|5, 96)^(Nocentini 2010)^(DIFIT)

+

+ The further origin is uncertain, and DELI calls it unknown.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) The most common explanation, followed by DEI, Nocentini and the LEI, takes the Vulgar Latin verb from [[grc|βαστάζω|tr=bastázō|t=to lift, carry, bear]], perhaps through the Greek spoken in southern Italy.^(DEI|455)^(Nocentini 2010)^(LEI|5, 96) The sense would have moved from “to carry, to bear” to “to hold out, to last”, the meaning of the oldest records, and then to “to be enough”;^(Nocentini 2010) Nocentini compares [[es|abastar|t=to supply]], to bring in enough goods to last the time needed.^(Nocentini 2010) Migliorini and Duro derived it instead from [[la-lat|bastum|t=pack saddle; stick]], with the sense “to serve as a support”, and Devoto turned the relation round, from [[basto|t=pack saddle]]: “to match the load a pack saddle can carry”.^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto 1968)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) Meyer-Lübke put it under [[la|*bastus|t=stuffed, well supplied]], and Pisani thought of a Mediterranean word found from Italy to Spain; the LEI holds that the spread through Italy, the Alps, southern France and Iberia points rather to a Vulgar Latin verb.^(REW 1935)^(LEI|5, 96)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI dates the first record to 1253, in the ''Poemetto didattico'', with the sense “to be enough”; the TLIO's first example is in the ''Splanamento'' of Girardo Patecchio of Cremona, of the same century.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO)^(GRADIT 2003) The sense “to last” is in a Sienese letter of 1260, and Giordano da Pisa (1305–1306) has the noun ''bastanza'' “duration”.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old Italian ''bastare'' meant both “to be enough, to be capable” and “to last, to hold out”; the TLIO also records the sense “to stop, to cease”.^(TLIO)^(DELI 1999) Dante has both: in the ''Paradiso'' “questo vi basti a vostro salvamento” (“let this be enough for your salvation”), and in the ''Inferno'' he wishes that a sinner's nails may last him for ever at his work.^(GDLI)^(Treccani 2011) The sense “to last” stayed in literary use until the 19th century and is now archaic.^(DEI|455)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) The impersonal use (''basta che…'', “it is enough that…”) is recorded from Boccaccio, in 1353.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The interjection ''basta!'' “enough!” is first recorded in Florio's dictionary of 1598, and Italian lent it to other languages, among them French and German.^(DELI 1999)^(REW 1935) ''Bastevole'' (13th–14th century) and ''bastante'' (before 1471) mean “sufficient”, and the old phrase ''a bastanza'' became the adverb ''abbastanza'' “enough”.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) In recipes ''quanto basta'', abbreviated ''q.b.'', means “as much as needed”.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1253 – ''Bastare'' “to be enough” appears in the ''Poemetto didattico''.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1260 – A Sienese letter uses it for “to last”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1270 – Old French ''baster'' is borrowed from Italian.^(LEI|5, 96)

+ * Before 1294 – The adverb ''abbastanza'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1353 – Boccaccio uses ''bastare'' impersonally.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1471 – ''Bastante'' “sufficient” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1598 – Florio records the interjection ''basta!''.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To be [[m|en|enough]], to [[m|en|suffice]] (with ''a'' for the person or purpose): ''Due ore mi bastano per finire il compito.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(impersonal)'' To be enough to do something or for something to happen: ''Basta premere il pulsante e la porta si apre.'' ''Basta che'' means “provided that”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(literary, archaic)'' To [[m|en|last]], to hold out.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''Bastare a sé stesso'': to be self-sufficient.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011) ''Non bastare l'animo (di)'': not to have the heart or the courage (to).^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[basta]]

+ * [[abbastanza]]

+ * [[bastante]]

+ * [[bastevole]]

+ * [[bastanza]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[bastone]]

+ * [[basto]]

+ * [[es|bastar]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Bastare'' takes the auxiliary ''essere''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) ''Quanto basta'' (''q.b.'') in recipes leaves the quantity to the cook.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}