acceso

Forms

acceso (feminine accesa, masculine plural accesi, feminine plural accese, superlative accesissimo)^[1] Old Italian forms include accenso, accieso, aceso and acexo.^[2] The archaic and poetic form accenso keeps the ⟨n⟩ of Latin.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is from Italian accendere: its past participle, continuing Latin accēnsus, the participle of accendō (“to set on fire”).^[5][6][1][7] The LEI treats the participle separately, as the core of a new family with senses of its own.^[8] The verb is formed with ad- on the root of candeō (“to shine, glow”),^[9][5] and de Vaan cites the root Proto-Indo-European *(s)kend-.^[10] The Latin verb continues in Old Occitan acendre and Portuguese acender.^[8][9]

DELI explains the bookkeeping sense “open, outstanding” (of an account or debt) by a coincidence: Latin accēnsus is also the participle of accēnseō (“to enter in the census list”).^[5] The legal use of the verb in “open an account” is, for DELI, a late reconstruction from the participle.^[5] The learned doublet is accenso.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Sienese poet Ruggieri Apugliese, in the middle of the 13th century, with the sense “burning, on fire”.^[2] DELI's first record is from before 1306, in Jacopone da Todi: Ecce acceso fuoco d'ira, “behold, a fire of anger kindled”.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the word of heat, of a face flushed red, of shining stars, and of a mind inflamed with love, divine love, anger or desire.^[2] Dino Compagni describes a bundle of fire carried a modo d'un torchio acceso, “like a lit torch”.^[3][4]

DELI records the sense “open, unsettled” in a 14th-century translation of Seneca, “entered, open” of an account or debt before 1400 in Franco Sacchetti, and “intense, vivid” of colour in Giovanni Della Casa in 1551–54.^[5] When electric current came in, the verb took the sense “to switch on” (1942), and the participle “on, working”.^[5][6] In heraldry acceso describes a torch whose flame is of a different tincture.^[11]

Timeline

• Mid-13th century – Ruggieri Apugliese uses acceso “burning”.^[2]
• Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi writes of an acceso fuoco d'ira.^[5][3]
• 14th century – The sense “open, unsettled” appears in a translation of Seneca.^[5]
• Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses it of an open account.^[5]
• 1551–1554 – Giovanni Della Casa uses it of an intense colour.^[5]
• 1942 – Accendere is recorded for switching on an electric device.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Burning, alight: Il camino era ancora acceso a mezzanotte.^[6][12][13]
2. Switched on, working: of a light, an engine or an appliance.^[6][12][14]
3. Lit up, illuminated.^[12]
4. Of a colour, bright, vivid: rosso acceso.^[15][6][12]
5. Of a face, flushed, red.^[12][6]
6. (figurative) Heated, lively: Tra i due ci fu un dibattito acceso.^[15][6][12]
7. (figurative) Fervent, passionate, of a supporter; inflamed with a feeling, with di: acceso d'ira.^[15][6][13]
8. (banking) Of an account, a debt or a mortgage: open, not yet settled.^[12][16]

Word family

• accesamente
• semiacceso

Related words

• accendere
• accenso
• accensione
• Latin accēnsus

Usage notes

South of a line from Ancona to the Colli Albani the dialects use the type appiccià instead of accendere.^[8] GRADIT records the phrases passare il cerino acceso and sui carboni accesi.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 24
8. ^ a b c Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
9. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli