accecare

Forms

accecare (first-person singular present accèco, first-person singular past historic accecài, past participle accecàto, auxiliary (transitive) avére or (intransitive) èssere)^[1] A less common form is acciecare, with the diphthong of cieco (accièco).^[2][3][4] Old forms include Old Italian aciekare, Old Italian acecare and northern Old Italian acegar.^[5][6]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian a- + cieco (“blind”) + -are, a parasynthetic verb from the adjective.^[5][7][8][1] The vowel ⟨e⟩ has no diphthong because it is unstressed.^[9][3] Zingarelli and the GDLI instead take it from the prefix and the older verb cecare, from Latin caecō (“to make blind”), and the LEI lists it among the derivatives of the Latin verb, which also survives in cegar and cegar.^[4][10][6]

Cieco is caecus (“blind”), from Proto-Italic *kaikos.^[11][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *keh₂i-ko- (“one-eyed”), with cognates Old Irish cáech (“one-eyed”) and Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍃 (haihs, “one-eyed”).^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's earliest form is aciekare in Ugieri Apugliese, in the 13th century, with the figurative sense “to darken the mind”.^[5] The sense “to make blind” follows in Andrea da Grosseto in 1268, the TLIO's first record, and the intransitive acecare “to go blind” in Ristoro d'Arezzo in 1282.^[5][12]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb for blinding with a strong light, for clouding the mind and for deceiving, for erasing writing or a painted figure, and in gardening for destroying the buds, or eyes, of a plant.^[12] Giovanni Villani tells that Luis was taken at Verona and blinded, and Tasso writes that the smoke blinds.^[13][10]

The sense “to take away clearness or brightness” is recorded in Vasari in 1550 and “to stop an opening” in Galileo in 1593.^[5] From this come the technical senses: walling up a window, stopping a leak at sea, and sinking a nail or screw so its head does not stick out, done with the accecatoio (1797).^[5][4][7] In 1984 la Repubblica used the verb for jamming enemy radar.^[10]

Timeline

• 13th century – Ugieri Apugliese uses aciekare “to darken the mind”.^[5]
• 1268 – Andrea da Grosseto uses accecare “to make blind”.^[5][12]
• 1282 – Ristoro d'Arezzo uses acecare “to go blind”.^[5]
• Before 1363 – Accecamento appears in Matteo Villani.^[5]
• 1550 – Vasari uses the sense “to dim”.^[5]
• 1593 – Galileo uses the sense “to stop an opening”.^[5]
• 1797 – Accecatoio, the countersink bit, is recorded.^[5]
• 1984 – The sense “to jam a radar” appears.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To blind, to deprive of sight: L'esplosione lo accecò.^[7][2][3]
2. To dazzle, to blind for a moment: I fari della macchina ci accecavano.^[7][2][3]
3. (figurative) To cloud the mind, to deprive of reason: Era accecato dalla rabbia.^[7][2][4]
4. To stop up or block an opening or pipe; to wall up a window.^[7][2][4]
5. To shade a lamp.^[7][2]
6. To countersink a nail or screw, so that its head does not stick out.^[7][2][4]
7. (agriculture) To remove some of the buds from a plant.^[7][3][4]
8. To jam a radar electronically.^[7][10]
9. (intransitive, literary) To go blind.^[4][3][14]

Word family

• accecamento
• accecatoio
• accecatura
• accecante

Related words

• cieco
• cecato
• cecità

Usage notes

In the present the stressed forms are accèco or, less often, accièco; outside the stress the forms with -cie- are rare.^[4][15] Accecare is to blind for good or for a time, while abbagliare is to dazzle with a sudden bright light.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 9, 516
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana