indovinare Italian · revision 38860

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=first half of the 13th century, Ruggieri Apugliese|origins=la dīvīnus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /in.do.viˈna.re/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''indovinare''' (first-person singular present indovìno, first-person singular past historic indovinài, past participle indovinàto, auxiliary avére)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It continues [[inh|la-vul|*indīvīnō|alt=*indivināre]], made from [[la|dīvīnō|alt=dīvīnāre|t=to foretell, prophesy]] with the prefix [[m|la|in-]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) The Latin verb is a derivative of [[m|la|dīvīnus|t=divine; prophetic]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|2007) GRADIT and Sabatini take the prefix as intensive or perfective, Nocentini as locative.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Nocentini 2010) DELI notes that the derivatives were formed in Italian, though old writers such as Francesco da Barberino (1314) wrote [[indivino]] and so still felt the tie to the Latin family.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The first ⟨i⟩ became ⟨o⟩ before the stress: Devoto explains it as a dissimilation of ⟨i…i⟩ to ⟨o…i⟩ helped by the following /v/, as in [[doventare]] for [[diventare]] and [[dovizia]] from [[la|dīvitiae|t=riches]].^(Devoto 1968|231)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) The older form [[indivinare]] is the one Dante da Maiano used.^(Prati 1951|556)^(Wiktionary)

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+ The verb is [[fr|deviner]], [[oc|devinar]], [[ca|endevinar]], [[es|adivinar]] and [[pt|adivinhar]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)^(DEI|2007)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI and the TLIO's first record is the Sienese poet Ruggieri Apugliese, in the first half or middle of the 13th century, who boasts of knowing astrology and the planets and how ''indovinar cose segrete'', “to divine secret things”.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO)^(GDLI) The sense is to know and declare the future or the unknown by inspiration or by divination.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old Italian already widened the sense to foreseeing an event by intuition or reasoning, and to guessing something unknown.^(TLIO) The derivative ''indovino'', a soothsayer, is recorded from Bono Giamboni before 1292, and ''indovinello'', a riddle, from Boccaccio in 1362–64.^(DELI 1999) Tommaseo set it against the learned ''divinare'', which kept only the noble senses, while ''indovinare'' had the familiar ones.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ The sense “to get something right, hit on the right choice” is recorded only in 1884, and Panzini in 1905 found that it recalled French ''deviner'' too closely, though it was very widely used.^(DELI 1999) Modern Italian has many set phrases: ''tirare a indovinare'', to answer at random hoping to be right, and ''non indovinarne una'', said of someone who gets everything wrong.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * First half of the 13th century – Ruggieri Apugliese uses ''indovinare'' “to divine”.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO)

+ * Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni has ''indovino'' “soothsayer”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1362–1364 – Boccaccio uses ''indovinello'' “riddle”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1884 – The sense “to hit the mark, choose well” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|guess]]: to find out or understand something unknown by intuition, chance or clues: ''Indovina chi ho visto ieri!''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # To [[m|en|solve]] a riddle or a puzzle correctly: ''Ha indovinato la parola nascosta.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # To make the right choice, to get something right: ''Abbiamo indovinato il ristorante.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # To [[m|en|foretell]] or [[m|en|divine]] the future by soothsaying: ''Diceva di saper indovinare la sorte.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[indovinello]]

+ * [[indovino]]

+ * [[indovinabile]]

+ * [[indovinamento]]

+ * [[indovinatore]]

+ * [[indovinatorio]]

+ * [[indovinazione]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[divinare]]

+ * [[divino]]

+ * [[la|dīvīnō]]

+ * [[fr|deviner]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The phrases ''chi l'indovina è bravo'' and ''indovinala grillo'' express that something is hard to work out or foresee.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) The archaic form ''indivinare'' appears in old texts.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}