abbracciare

Forms

abbracciare (first-person singular present abbràccio, first-person singular past historic abbracciài, past participle abbracciàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian a- + braccio (“arm”) + -are, a parasynthetic verb: the prefix and the verb ending are added together to the noun.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Wiktionary suggests that it may continue a Vulgar Latin *adbracchiāre, formed from ad- and bracchium (“arm”).^[1] The Latin noun is from Ancient Greek βραχίων (brakhī́ōn, “arm”).^[1]

The same formation with ad- is found in Spanish abrazar, Old Occitan abrasar and Portuguese abraçar, while other Romance languages use the prefix in-: French embrasser, which also came to mean “to kiss”, Old Occitan embrasar and Romanian îmbrățișa.^[7][8] A dialect variant abbraccicare, Umbrian ⟨abbraccicà⟩, points to a Vulgar Latin *adbrachicāre, which DEI also sees behind Spanish abarcar and Portuguese abarcar.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur of the last quarter of the 12th century, in the sense “to clasp in one's arms”; the verb is already part of the personal name Abracciavacke in a Florentine document of 1193.^[6] DELI's first record is in Giacomino Pugliese, at the start of the 13th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb for the sexual embrace, for wrestling, and for clasping the altar in devotion; plants that twine round a support “embrace” it, and stones in a wall are laid so that they hold one another.^[6] Dante used it for “to contain, take in”.^[2] From the 14th century it also meant to accept or follow an opinion or a cause.^[2][6]

The infinitive was used as a noun, gli abbracciari “embraces”, by Boccaccio and later writers.^[9][10] The derivative abbracciamento is recorded in Boccaccio about 1336, and abbraccio, now the ordinary word for a hug, only before 1603, in Maffei; 19th-century purists such as Lissoni and Azzocchi wrongly condemned it.^[2] The proverb chi troppo abbraccia nulla stringe warns that whoever grasps at too much ends up with nothing.^[10][11]

Timeline

• 1175–1200 – First record, in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur.^[6]
• 1193 – The personal name Abracciavacke appears in a Florentine document.^[6]
• 1211 – Zingarelli's date of first record.^[12]
• Early 13th century – Giacomino Pugliese uses the verb.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for “to contain, include”.^[2]
• 14th century – “to adopt an opinion or a cause” in an Italian translation of Seneca.^[2]
• c. 1336 – Abbracciamento is recorded in Boccaccio.^[2]
• Before 1603 – Abbraccio is recorded in G. P. Maffei.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To embrace, to hug, as a sign of affection; to put one's arms round something: abbracciare il tronco di un faggio.^{[4][13][14][1]}
2. (transitive) To surround, to encircle: Le colline abbracciano il paese.; to take in with the eye: Dalla torre si abbraccia tutta la pianura.^[4][13][15]
3. (transitive, figurative) To contain, to cover, to span: un saggio che abbraccia due secoli.^{[4][13][11][1]}
4. (transitive, figurative) To grasp with the mind.^[4][6]
5. (transitive, figurative) To adopt or follow a faith, an idea or a cause; to take up a career: abbracciare la vita monastica.^{[4][13][15][1]}
6. (abbracciarsi) To cling to someone or something; of plants, to twine round a support; reciprocally, to hug each other.^[13][14][12]

Word family

• abbraccio
• abbracciamento
• riabbracciare
• abbracciata
• abbracciatore
• abbraccione

Related words

• braccio
• Spanish abrazar
• French embrasser

Usage notes

In letters ti abbraccio is an affectionate closing formula.^[14] The infinitive used as a noun, l'abbracciare, plural gli abbracciari, “embrace”, is archaic and literary.^[4][13][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 7
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana