accattare

Forms

accattare (first-person singular present accàtto, first-person singular past historic accattài, past participle accattàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old Italian also wrote acattare and achattare; northern texts have acatar and southern ones accactare.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *accaptāre, formed from Latin captō (“to try to seize”), the intensive of Latin capiō (“to take”), with the prefix ad-.^[4][5][6][7] The LEI and Nocentini see it as a remaking of classical Latin acceptō (“to receive”) (the source of accettare) under the influence of the intensive verb.^[2][5][8] DEI and Prati started from *accapitāre, a form the LEI rejects;^{[9][10][2][1]} Wiktionary sees a merger of several Vulgar Latin verbs.^{[9][10][2][1]}

Together with comparāre (whence comprare), the new verb replaced Latin emō (“to buy”), which no Romance language kept.^[4][2] It gave French acheter, Old Occitan acaptar and Old Sardinian accatare, all “to buy”.^[5][2][8]

Reichenkron and Cortelazzo–Marcato took the southern Italian verb meaning “to buy” for a gallicism brought by the Normans, and Rohlfs for a Gallo-Italian word reinforced by them.^[2][11] The LEI objects that medieval Latin in England and Norman Sicily lacks the word, and that its spread over northern France, Sardinia, northern, central and southern Italy points to a native layer.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the Abate di Tivoli, about 1230–1250, where the verb means “to buy”;^[4][6] GRADIT dates it the same.^[4][6] The TLIO's oldest text is the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian accattare meant to get, take and obtain, to buy, and to borrow;^[3][12][13] Florentine chroniclers used it of the commune raising forced loans from citizens.^[3][12][13] The sense “to beg” is recorded with accattare limosina at the end of the 13th century in the Novellino, and used alone in the Sienese statutes of 1309–1310.^[4] Begging friars accattavano bread and wine in the Fioretti of Saint Francis.^[12]

The begging sense prevailed in Tuscany and the standard language, which led to the derogatory “to scrape together, go looking for” (accattare brighe “to look for trouble”).^[6][13] The old sense “to buy” lives on in the southern dialects, from Abruzzo to Sicily (Sicilian accattari).^[11][2][7] Derivatives are accatto (before 1250, Frederick II), accattabrighe “troublemaker” (before 1565, Varchi), accattone “beggar” (before 1696) and accattonaggio “begging” (1846).^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1230–1250 – The Abate di Tivoli uses accattare “to buy”.^[4]
• Before 1250 – Frederick II uses the noun accatto “purchase, gain”.^[4]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino has accattare limosina “to beg alms”.^[4]
• 1309–1310 – The Sienese statutes use accattare alone for “to beg”.^[4]
• Before 1565 – Varchi uses accattabrighe.^[4]
• Before 1696 – Baldinucci uses accattone “beggar”.^[4]
• 1846 – accattonaggio is first recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To try to obtain by asking insistently or servilely: accattare raccomandazioni.^[6][7][14]
2. (derogatory) To scrape together, go looking for: accattare scuse, accattare brighe “to look for trouble”.^[6][7][13]
3. To beg for;^[6][7][15] (absolute) to beg, live as a beggar: Il vecchio accattava sui gradini della chiesa.^[6][7][15]
4. (regional, southern; archaic) To buy.^[6][7][13]
5. (archaic) To find; to obtain, receive.^[6][7][14]

Word family

• accattone
• accattonaggio
• accatto
• accattabrighe
• raccattare
• accattatore

Related words

• accettare
• French acheter

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 239
3. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 22
10. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 16
11. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Marcato, Carla (1998), I dialetti italiani: dizionario etimologico, Torino: UTET, p. 56
12. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 1, 64
13. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse