aceto

Forms

aceto m (plural aceti)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian axeo, Old Italian aseo, Old Italian axedo, Old Italian asedo and Old Italian axè in the north, and Old Italian acito and Old Italian achitu in the south.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin acētum (“vinegar”).^[4][5][3][1] The Latin noun is the neuter of an adjective *acētus belonging to aceō (“to be sour”) and acēscō (“to turn sour”), formed like exolētus beside exolēscō.^[6][1][7] The DÉRom reconstructs a masculine Proto-Romance noun;^[8] Latin texts have the masculine only in the Latin Oribasius, while the neuter is usual from Plautus on.^[8]

The word survives in every Romance language except Romanian and modern French: Dalmatian akáyt, Sardinian agedu, Friulian asêt, Engadine aschaid, Old French azet and Occitan azet, and Spanish acedo and Portuguese azedo as adjectives meaning “sour”.^[9][5][10] Through a form with the consonants transposed it reached the Germanic languages (German Essig), and Slavic took it either from Balkan Latin or from Gothic, passing it to Romanian oțet.^[9][10]

The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ-, with a stative suffix, “to be sharp”.^[11] DELI and Nocentini also trace the word to this root meaning sharp or pungent, the root of ago “needle”.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Lombard poem of Pietro da Bescapè (1274), in the form axeo, for vinegar, the sour product of fermented wine.^[2][9] Nocentini and Devoto–Oli date the word to 1274;^[5][12][4] DELI's first record is Dante's Commedia (1313–19).^[5][12][4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian aceto was made from wine and also from apples, pears and sorbs;^[2] aceto squillitico was vinegar steeped with squill.^[2] Figuratively it already meant spite or ill will, and a proverb said that from a bad payer one gets either vinegar or sour wine.^[2] Boccaccio recalls the vinegar and gall given to Christ on the cross, and an old proverb says Adamo mangiò el fico e noi bevemo l’aceto (Adam ate the fig and we drink the vinegar).^[13]

From Benedetto Varchi (before 1565) the word also meant biting wit, a sense Treccani connects with Horace's “Italian vinegar”.^[4][14] In some Lombard and Adriatic dialects the word became feminine when the article was misdivided, and Ligurian forms replaced the ending with that of past participles.^[9]

Chemistry built a large family on the word from the late 18th century: acetato and acetico (1791) are from French words coined by Guyton de Morveau in 1787, acetone (1846) from French, acetilene (1875) from English.^[4][5] Modern cooking terms include aceto balsamico, the aged vinegar of Modena and Reggio Emilia, and sott’aceto (pickled), from which sottaceto (1846).^[14][5]

Timeline

• 1274 – Pietro da Bescapè uses axeo in Lombard verse.^[2][9]
• 1282 – acetoso “sour like vinegar” appears in Restoro d'Arezzo.^[4]
• 1313–19 – Dante uses aceto in the Commedia.^[4][15]
• Before 1565 – Benedetto Varchi uses the word for biting wit.^[4]
• 1791 – acetato and acetico enter Italian chemistry.^[4]
• 1846 – acetone and sottaceto are recorded.^[4][5]
• 1875 – acetilene is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. vinegar: the sour liquid made by the acetic fermentation of wine or other alcoholic liquids, used to dress and preserve food: Metti un filo d’aceto sui pomodori.^[15][12][16]
2. (chemistry, pharmacy) Any of several derivatives of acetic acid or solutions of drugs in vinegar: aceto aromatico, aceto di saturno.^[14][12]
3. (figurative, literary) Biting wit, sarcasm.^[15][16][17]

Word family

• acetoso
• acetosa
• acetosella
• acetire
• inacetire
• sottaceto
• acetato
• acetico
• acetone
• acetilene

Related words

• acetabolo
• acido
• acre
• Latin acetum

Usage notes

Prendere d’aceto is said of wine that begins to turn sour and, figuratively, of a person who takes offence.^[12][14] Aceto dei quattro ladri or dei sette ladroni was an old popular disinfectant made with aromatic herbs.^[17][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
9. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 381
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ 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 d e 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 e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli