acquistare

Forms

acquistare (first-person singular present acquìsto, first-person singular past historic acquistài, past participle acquistàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] The poets of the Sicilian School wrote Old Italian aquistare and aquistar.^[2] The dialects have Piedmontese aquistè, Lombard quistà, Venetian aquistar and Corsican aquistà.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *acquīsītāre (“to acquire”), formed on Latin acquīsītus, the past participle of acquīrō (“to acquire”).^[3][4][5][1] The LEI reconstructs instead *acquīstāre, built on a strong participle *acquīstus, and the TLIO follows it.^[2][6] Medieval Latin records of the verb begin in the 11th century.^[2]

Outside Italy the verb survives in Old Occitan acquistar, in Franco-Provençal acquitter and in Castilian aquistar (“to conquer”).^[2][7][3] The Latin verb is a compound of ad- and quaerō (“to seek”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Giacomo da Lentini (about 1230–1250), and the LEI cites aquistare in Mostacci, also from the first half of the 13th century, for “to buy, to obtain as property”.^[6][2] The 12th-century Piedmontese Sermoni subalpini already have aquistér.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb covered gaining property, land and also people: the LEI glosses it “to buy, to annex, to hire”.^[2] Dino Compagni used it in 1310–1312 for seizing cities and territories, and Pulci's Pampalona fu acquistata still means “conquered”.^[9][10] Dante has the intransitive “to advance”: sempre acquistando dal lato mancino (“always gaining on the left side”).^[9][10]

The noun acquisto is recorded from the 13th century, and Old Occitan had the matching acquista by 1187.^[3][2] Today the main sense is “to buy”, which in sport extends to signing a player, while figurative uses such as acquistare terreno “to gain ground” keep the older sense of gaining.^[4][10]

Timeline

• 11th century – Medieval Latin records of the verb begin.^[2]
• 1230–1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses aquistar.^[6][2]
• 13th century – The Novellino uses acquistare “to obtain as property”.^[9]
• 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses it for “to conquer”.^[9]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses the intransitive “to advance”.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To buy, to purchase: Hanno acquistato un appartamento in centro. In sport, to sign a player.^[4][10][5]
2. (transitive) To acquire, to gain (fame, experience, trust).^[4][10][5]
3. (transitive) Of a thing: to win (something) for someone: Quel romanzo le acquistò molti lettori.^[4][5]
4. (transitive) To take on a quality or appearance: acquistare peso.^[4][10]
5. (transitive, literary) To conquer.^[4][10][11]
6. (intransitive) To improve: Con gli occhiali nuovi acquista molto.^[4][10][5]
7. (intransitive, literary) To advance, to move forward.^[4][10]

Word family

• acquisto
• riacquistare
• acquistabile
• acquistatore
• racquistare

Related words

• acquisire
• acquisito
• Latin acquīrō

Usage notes

Acquistare terreno is to gain ground, and acquistare tempo to play for time.^[10][11]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 455
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ 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)
6. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli