lavorare
/lavoˈrare/
verb
Origin
Latin
laborare — to labor, to toil, to struggle
Overview
Meaning Now
- To work, perform an activity, or exert effort for a purpose.
- To process, shape, or craft a material (e.g., stone or metal).
- To function properly (of a machine or mechanism).
Literal older meaning
to labor
Language path
Latin → Vulgar Latin → Italian
Earliest form
lavorare
Earliest period
13th century
Journey
The word stems from the Latin 'labor', which originally implied hardship or suffering associated with strenuous physical effort. Over time, particularly in the agricultural context of the Romance languages, it transitioned to mean general labor, cultivation, and manufacturing.
Evolution
- Classical Latin
laborare
“to work, to toil”
- Vulgar Latin
*laborare
“to work, to till the land”
Development of the sense of cultivation.
- Old Italian
lavorare
“to work, to labor”
Initial consonant shift and lenition.
Connections
Word parts
lavor-
root
work/effort
-are
ending
infinitive suffix
Related across languages
Spanish
laborar
to labor, to work
French
labourer
to till, to plow
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Related to lavorare
External references use DefinedTerm semantics.