allettare

allettare¹ entice, attract

Pronunciation

• /al.letˈta.re/^[1]

Forms

allettare (first-person singular present allètto, first-person singular past historic allettài, past participle allettàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

The word for enticing is inherited from Latin allectō (“to allure, entice”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb is the intensive of alliciō (“to lure”), formed with ad- on laciō (“to draw, entice”).^[2][3][5] Nocentini calls the simple verb a word known only from glosses and without sure comparisons, and DELI suggests it may be expressive.^[3][2] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *lakjō (“to draw, pull”) and notes that the simple verb is attested only in Paulus' epitome of Festus, so it may be a nonce form; he allows a link with lacer (“torn”).^[6]

The LEI treats the Italian verb as a popular continuation of the Latin, which also survives in Romanian.^[7] Meyer-Lübke adds Old French alaitier, reshaped after another word, and Ladin and Romansh forms.^[8] In French the Latin verb was replaced by French allécher: Nocentini and the DEI derive it from Vulgar Latin *allecticare, which also gave Spanish alechigar (“to sweeten”), while the LEI rejects that base and derives the French word from lechier (“to lick”), of Germanic origin.^[3][9][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the poems of the Florentine Chiaro Davanzati, from the second half of the 13th century; the TLIO's first sense is “to draw someone to oneself with flattery or gestures, to entice”.^[10] DELI dates the verb from the Novellino at the end of the 13th century, in the sense “to attract or invite with pleasant prospects or flattery”, and the LEI quotes the same text for “to call an animal to oneself”.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

From the start the verb was used both of people and of animals.^[7] For animals it meant calling a domestic animal with a gentle voice and an outstretched hand, and in falconry and fowling luring birds with a call: Crescenzi's Italian translation (1320) has it of gerfalcons, sparrowhawks and pigeons.^[7][10] Tommaseo still records the Tuscan proverb il cane s'alletta più colle carezze che colla catena (“a dog is won more by caresses than by the chain”).^[11] The hunting sense lives on in allettamento, the means a hunter uses to lure birds (Leopardi, before 1835), and in allettaiuolo, the decoy bird.^[7][12] Dialects from Corsica to Molise keep the verb for calling chickens and other farm animals.^[7][9]

In Old Italian the verb also had a figurative intransitive use, “to find a home, dwell” (of a vice or of faith), and a transitive one, “to nourish, harbour”.^[10] Dante's line perché tanta viltà nel core allette? (“why do you harbour such cowardice in your heart?”) is the example the modern dictionaries give for this literary sense.^[5][4][13] Today the verb means to attract, especially with promises or the prospect of gain, and its present participle allettante is the usual adjective for an offer or prospect that tempts.^[4][13]

Timeline

• Second half of the 13th century – Chiaro Davanzati uses the verb, the first record in the TLIO.^[10]
• End of the 13th century – The Novellino has allettare “to entice”.^[2]
• 1320 – Crescenzi's translation uses it of luring hawks and pigeons with a call.^[7]
• Before 1363 – Matteo Villani has allettamento “enticement, flattery”.^[2]
• 1581 – Torquato Tasso uses allettatrice.^[2]
• Before 1604 – Marcello Adriani uses allettatore.^[2]
• Before 1729 – Anton Maria Salvini uses allettante “tempting”.^[2][3]
• Before 1835 – Leopardi uses allettamento for a lure in bird hunting.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To attract or entice, especially with promises or flattery: La società cercava di allettare nuovi soci con forti sconti.^[4][14][15]
2. (transitive, also absolute) To appeal to, tempt: l'idea di partire non lo allettava affatto.^[4][14][16]
3. (transitive, literary) To induce or encourage someone to do something (with a).^[4][14][16]
4. (transitive, archaic, literary) To harbour (a feeling); (pronominal) to find a place in someone.^[4][14][13]
5. (transitive, hunting) To lure game or birds with a call.^[5][7]

Word family

• allettamento
• allettante
• allettatore
• allettatrice
• allettaiolo
• allettativo
• allettevole

allettare² beat down (crops), confine to bed

Etymology tree of allettare²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin lēctus

Catalan llit

French lit

Italian letto

Italian allettare

Spanish lecho

From the same root · allettare²

Latin illectus ← lēctus

Latin lectīca ← lēctus

Latin lectisternium ← lēctus

Latin lectulus ← lēctus

Pronunciation

• /al.letˈta.re/^[1]

Forms

allettare (first-person singular present allètto, first-person singular past historic allettài, past participle allettàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

The word for confining to bed is formed from Italian a- + letto (“bed”) + -are, a parasynthetic formation with an intensive prefix.^[2][3][4][1] The DEI compares Calabrian alletticari, which has both senses, “to take to bed” and “to bend to the ground”.^[9] GRADIT records the old variant Old Italian alettare.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in the poems of Monte Andrea, in the 13th century, with the sense “to beat down, flatten plants”.^[2] GRADIT also dates the verb from the 13th century, in the old variant alettare.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The image is of crops laid flat by wind or rain as if on a bed, and Tommaseo explains it so; he quotes Salvini's Homer, where the west wind alletta le chinate spighe (“lays the bowed ears flat”).^[11] The reflexive allettarsi “to take to one's bed”, of a long or serious illness, is dated by DELI to 1723, in Salvini, and by the DEI to the end of the 17th century.^[2][9] Tommaseo notes that it implies an illness grave enough to keep one in bed for more than a few days.^[11] The participle allettato “bedridden” is now the commonest form, and builders use the verb for spreading a bed of mortar under a floor.^[13][4]

Timeline

• 13th century – Monte Andrea uses the verb of beaten-down plants.^[2]
• End of the 17th century – The reflexive “to take to one's bed” appears, according to the DEI.^[9]
• 1723 – Anton Maria Salvini uses allettarsi “to take to one's bed”, DELI's date.^[2]
• Before 1729 – Salvini uses the reflexive of plants bending to the ground.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) Of an illness, to confine someone to bed: la polmonite l'ha allettato per tutto l'inverno.^[4][14][16]
2. (transitive, agriculture) Of wind, rain or hail, to beat down or flatten crops.^[4][14][15]
3. (transitive, building) To spread a layer of mortar on a surface as a bed for tiles or paving.^[4][14][16]
4. (allettarsi, reflexive) To take to one's bed because of illness.^[5][15]
5. (allettarsi, pronominal) Of cereals and other plants, to bend or lie flat on the ground: dopo il temporale l'orzo si è allettato.^[5][13]