Commentary Purg XXX 43

Lombardi (DDP Lombardi.Purg.XXX.43), against the grain of the more usual understanding of this hapax, which holds that the word means 'uncertainty,' or 'hopeful expectation,' says that it here is a noun formed from the verb respirare (to breathe), here in the sense that indicates the panting breath of a terrified child.  Campi (DDP Campi.Purg.XXX.43-45) suggests that this is, if ingenious, a forced reading, and prefers that of Bianchi (DDP Bianchi.Purg.XXX.43), who locates the source of Dante's rhyme word in Provençal respieit, or 'trust.'  Scartazzini (DDP Scartazzini.Purg.XXX.43) accepts this reading but criticizes Bianchi for not having credited Vincenzo Nannucci (Voci e locuzioni italiane derivate dalla lingua provenzale, Firenze, 1840, pp. 121-123).  We have followed Nannucci's and Bianchi's interpretation in our translation.