accettare

Forms

accettare (first-person singular present accètto, first-person singular past historic accettài, past participle accettàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin acceptāre (“to receive, accept”), a learned word.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb is a frequentative of accipiō (“to receive”), formed on its past participle acceptus.^[2][4][5] Nocentini and Zingarelli analyse it instead as captō (“to try to seize”), the frequentative of capiō (“to take”), with the prefix ad-.^[6][7]

The LEI finds the same Latin verb only as a learned word in the other Romance languages: French accepter, Spanish aceptar, Portuguese aceitar, Catalan acceptar, Friulian acetà and Romanian accepta, the last only from the 19th century.^[8] In the Italian dialects it shows popular sound changes, as in Venetian acetàr, Neapolitan azzettare and Sicilian accittari.^[8] Canello saw accattare as its popular doublet, but Körting derived that verb from Vulgar Latin *accappitare.^[9]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *kap-i- for capiō, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂p-i-, though the root may not be Indo-European; it is related to Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌽 (haban, “to have”) and 𐌷𐌰𐍆𐌾𐌰𐌽 (hafjan, “to lift”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Florentine statute from before 1284, where the verb means to consent to something offered and take it.^[11][12][7] DELI's first date is Dante (before 1321) for receiving willingly what is offered: Dante writes “La tua preghiera è degna / di molta lode, e io però l'accetto” (Your prayer is worthy of much praise, and so I accept it).^[2][13]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio (about 1336) used it for agreeing to someone's words or proposals, and a 14th-century commentary on Dante for admitting a person to a place or a religious order.^[2] Old Italian also had accettare le persone “to show partiality”, and the TLIO records a sense “to make sure, ascertain”.^[11][2] The legal sense of consenting to set up, change or end a legal relationship is recorded before 1555 in Pier Francesco Giambullari, and accettare una cambiale, to undertake to pay a bill of exchange, belongs to the same field.^[2][7]

The sense “to bear a misfortune calmly” is first found in Ada Negri in 1929, and the reflexive accettarsi “to accept oneself as one is” is recent.^[2][7][14] Among the derivatives, accettabile goes back to Domenico Cavalca (before 1342) and accettazione to Giovanni Villani (before 1348); since 1970 the latter also names the reception desk of a hospital or office.^[2]

Timeline

• Before 1284 – A Florentine statute uses accettare.^[11]
• About 1313 – Dante uses the verb in the Inferno.^[8][4]
• About 1336 – Boccaccio uses it for agreeing to a proposal.^[2]
• Before 1342 – Accettabile is recorded in Domenico Cavalca.^[2]
• Before 1555 – The legal sense appears in Pier Francesco Giambullari.^[2]
• 1749 – Inaccettabile is recorded.^[6]
• 1929 – Ada Negri uses it for bearing a misfortune calmly.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To accept, to receive willingly what is offered: Ha accettato con piacere il nostro invito a cena.^{[4][12][7][1]}
2. To agree to do or undertake something: Alla fine ha accettato di guidare il progetto.^[12][14][5]
3. To admit a person into a group, often with come or per: L'hanno accettata nel coro come soprano.^[4][12][7]
4. To accept as valid, to approve: La commissione non ha accettato il suo ricorso.^[14][7][15]
5. To bear, to come to terms with something unpleasant: Ha accettato con calma la notizia del trasferimento.^[4][12][7]
6. (law, banking) To accept a bill of exchange, undertaking to pay it when due.^{[4][12][7][15]}
7. accettarsi: to accept oneself, aware of one's limits.^[7][14][12]

Word family

• accettabile
• inaccettabile
• accettazione
• accettante
• accettatore
• riaccettare

Related words

• accetto
• capire
• Latin accipiō
• French accepter

Usage notes

Wiktionary records a rare homograph accettare “to cut with a hatchet”, formed from accetta “hatchet”; its present accétto has a closed /e/, while accètto “I accept” has an open one.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
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. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
6. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 265
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
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. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ 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
13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
14. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli