As far as regency is concerned, in a first examination of the main vocabularies of contemporary Italian, there is only one reference to the transitive use of the verb; and modern textbooks (Salvalingua, 1998; Es lebe die Grammatik, 2011; In other words,. Communication Etiquette 2011; Cherries or Cherries, 2012) prescribe legal action as the only correct form. The historical vocabulary of GDLI accounts for both transitive and intransitive constructions, even if the latter is no longer used today. As evidence of nineteenth-century intransitive usage, the GDLI cites the vocabulary of erroneous words and modes used especially in Filippo Ugolini`s Uffizi di publica amministrazione (1848): “I have noted, even though this verb is often used by the official public in the sense of `sacrifice of contract`: His Excellency If you want to apply for this job, you must, etc.” It is a construction that should not be used. A construction that should therefore not be used, even if Ugolini does not condemn it for the intransitive use of the verb, but for having chosen a term that is too bureaucratic and therefore unclear for citizens, such as the verb adire, and proposes to replace it with simpler synonyms. The intransitive use of the verb is still fully attested in the nineteenth century and is also found in formulas such as legal action. A possible reason for the double transitive/intransitive construction can be found in the etymology of the verb adire, which derives from the Latin ADĪRE and is composed of ĂD `upwards` and ĪRE `to go`. In Latin, the verb means “to approach, to reach” and with the translated value “to access, to address” and contains the simple or accusative accusative preceded by the prepositions AD and IN. Even at the end of the eighteenth century, the two constructions exist side by side in Latin texts and it is likely that during the transition from Latin legal texts to Italian legal texts, with the verb adire, they also retained their construction with the preposition a. – there are about 80,000 and 70 lawsuits in the archives of “Repubblica” (47) and “Corriere” (23); So let`s pull the strings: to say is a transitive verb and the only expression that is currently correct among those proposed is legal action. But then, given the difficulties of using this verb attested in newspaper articles and also in municipal administrative documents, we wonder – with Ugolini – whether it would not be better to find a clearer and simpler way to express the same concept, such as resorting to legal proceedings, taking legal action or, at most, initiate legal proceedings.

One explanation could concern the meaning of the verb adire: indeed, when its value as a “recourse” is recognized – either because it is a well-known term, or simply because its meaning has been guessed through the context – it is easy to extend the prepositional regency proper to the verb adire, which is finally constructed with the preposition a. Some users would like clarification on the term in order to take legal action. In particular, they ask whether it is right to take legal action (Leandro Dipietro of Messina) and to take legal action (Elisa Freddi of Guastalla). Some doubts concern the verb: hold or take legal action (Rita Spagnuolo de Reggio Emilia)? Uncertainties about the expression are documented on the Internet, where the non-exclusive presence of the expression to initiate a legal action is well documented (238,000 occurrences): the verb adire, “to appeal” (referring to the judge to “appeal to the judge”), is now mainly used in the expression “to take legal action, to bring a legal action”. According to the GDLI, his first literary certificate dates back to the novel A Milano non fa freddo by Giuseppe Marotta (1949): “I wrote to him and told him: If you do not compensate me, I will take legal action”. As expected, one can expect a web search via Google Books to produce the first non-literary attestation in the mid-nineteenth century in an administrative text. This is a decree on general disciplines in public procurement published in the “Bullettino officiale della Repubblica e Cantone del Ticino” (vol. XXVI, 1850): “If the parties do not agree and the dispute must take legal action, the disputed amounts remain deposited with the inspectorate until the matter is resolved”. In nineteenth-century texts, the introduction of legal action exists with other similar formulas such as legal action, the introduction of legal action, support for the means of justice, the introduction of legal action, assistance to the courts, support for the means of rigour, complicity in litigation. Starting from the questions of our users, another observation can be made: the overlap between adire and adherent, for example, denounces the understandable difficulty of understanding a legal Latinism that has survived only in rare crystallized formulas of legal practice, such as referring precisely to inheritance (“taking possession of an inheritance according to legal modalities”), Take the case to court or take legal action. The two verbs are “confused” not only phonetically, but also because of their semantic proximity: to sue means, in a sense, “to follow”, “to take sides” of a lawsuit, that is, basically “to cling to them”. In the same way, we can also explain the second expression proposed by Elisa Freddi: in the false construction of the legal action, it is possible to suspect an overlap, phonetically and semantically, with the verb known, among others, in the legal field in the act of expression by legal means.

Da dove nascono dunque le incertezze e i dubbi dei nostri lettori? In addition, bab.la offers the Japanese-English dictionary for other translations. These phrases come from external sources and may not be accurate. bab.la is not responsible for their content. A cura di Angela Frati e Stefania Iannizzotto Redazione Consulenza linguistica Accademia della Crusca.