afferrare

Forms

afferrare (first-person singular present affèrro, first-person singular past historic afferrài, past participle afferràto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian a- + ferro + -are, a verb made at once with a prefix and an ending, as DELI, Nocentini, GRADIT and the TLIO explain it.^[2][3][4][5] Its first sense must have been “to grip the iron”, that is the sword or weapon.^[2][6][7][8] Gabrielli and the GDLI take the noun instead in the sense “hook, grip”, and Treccani derives the old nautical sense “to drop anchor” from the sense “anchor”.^[9][10][11] The noun continues Latin ferrum (“iron; sword”).^[1]

The REW, DEI and Wiktionary set up the verb already in Vulgar Latin, as Vulgar Latin *afferrāre or *adferrāre;^{[12][6][1][13]} DEI points out that the verb is required by its spread across Italy and Gallo-Romance.^{[12][6][1][13]} The same verb is Sardinian afferrare, Old French aferrer, Old Occitan aferrar, Catalan aferrar, Spanish aferrar and Portuguese aferrar.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest record DELI gives is in a laude of the late 13th century, with the sense “to strike with the iron”, that is with a weapon.^[2] The TLIO's first text is a moralised bestiary of the 13th century from the area of Arezzo and Città di Castello.^[5] The reflexive “to cling tightly” appears at the same time, in the Mare amoroso.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Before 1321 Dante uses the verb in the sense “to take and hold tight”: Minos ciascheduno afferra, “seizes every one”.^[2][10] In Old Italian it could also mean to take power or property, to besiege, and to wound or torment with a weapon.^[5] At sea it meant to drop anchor or to land, a use found in Boccaccio and Davanzati and still in old pilot books.^[5][13][11] Ariosto still has the sense “to strike with the sword”, now obsolete.^[14][4]

Caro, before 1566, is the first to use it for seizing a favourable chance and for grasping something with the mind.^[2] The adjective afferrabile “graspable” is recorded in Croce in 1905.^[2]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – A laude has afferrare “to strike with the iron”.^[2]
• Late 13th century – The reflexive afferrarsi “to cling” appears in the Mare amoroso.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for taking and holding tight.^[2]
• Before 1566 – Caro uses it for seizing an opportunity and for understanding.^[2]
• 1905 – Croce uses afferrabile.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To seize quickly and hold tight; to grab: Afferrò la fune con tutte e due le mani.^{[4][15][14][16]}
2. (figurative) To take advantage of (a chance): afferrare l'occasione.^[4][14][15]
3. (figurative) To grasp, to understand; also to catch (words or a sound): Non ho afferrato il suo cognome.^[4][8][16]
4. (obsolete) To strike with the sword.^[4][14]
5. (obsolete, nautical) To anchor; to land.^[4][11][5]
6. (reflexive, afferrarsi) To cling to something, also figuratively to a hope or an excuse.^{[15][8][14][16]}

Word family

• afferrabile
• riafferrare
• afferramento
• afferratoio

Related words

• ferrare

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. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
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 c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 73
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
10. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 1, 202
11. ^ a b c 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 Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 25
14. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
16. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana