appicciare

Forms

appicciare (first-person singular present appìccio, future appiccerò)^[1][2]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[3][1][4][5] Nocentini takes it as a Tuscan form beside appiccare: it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pikkiare, a variant of *piccāre (“to prick”) (see piccare), with the prefix ad-.^[6] Treccani also sees it as akin to that verb and to appiccicare.^[7]

Devoto–Oli and Devoto start instead from a Vulgar Latin *adpiceare, a verb formed with the same prefix on Latin piceus (“of pitch”).^[8][9] Wiktionary gives the same idea as *appiciāre, from ad and pix (“pitch, tar”), or else a sound-imitating origin.^[10] Meyer-Lübke lists the word under the same Latin adjective, with Abruzzese appiccià “to take by the hand”.^[11] Prati rejects that source and prefers a family of words built on an imitative ⟨*picc-⟩ for things that stick together.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Aretine of Restoro d'Arezzo, 1282.^[4][2] The oldest senses it lists are “to join, fasten together”, “to hang up”, “to seize” and “to set alight”.^[4] DEI notes that the sense “to light” is there from the beginning.^[13] A Medieval Latin document of 1022 in the Codex Cavensis already has appiczare “to touch”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb ranged widely: to bind or sew, to hang up, to grab, and as a pronominal verb to come to blows or, figuratively, to be kindled.^[4] Iacopone warns of worldly vanities that make one stick “more than birdlime” (più che vesco), and uses it of a tree whose fruit has set.^[5] The sense of lighting a fire or a lamp runs from Masuccio and Aretino to Tecchi, who puts appicciare in quotation marks as a dialect word for lighting a cigar.^[5]

The meaning “to join” has fallen out of use, while “to light” lives on in the dialects, Tuscan among them.^[5][13] Abruzzese appiccià means both “to give one's hand” and “to light”, and northern relatives such as Milanese pizzà and Venetian impizzar mean “to light”.^[12] Tuscany kept a special use for dried figs: split lengthwise, filled with walnuts and almonds and pressed together again.^[14][15][2] The German of South Tyrol has a verb pitschen “to stick”, taken from this Italian family.^[16]

Timeline

• 1022 – Medieval Latin appiczare “to touch” is recorded in the Codex Cavensis.^[12]
• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses the verb in Arezzo.^[4][2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (uncommon) To join or fasten things together: appicciare i fichi secchi, to press split dried figs together with a filling.^[3][14][1]
2. (regional) To scrape together small sums: appicciare qualche euro.^[3]
3. (regional, central and southern Italy) To light or set fire to; to switch on: appicciare la stufa.^{[3][1][8][10]}
4. (regional) To grab, seize.^[3][2]
5. (pronominal, appicciarsi) To catch fire;^{[8][7][2][14]} (archaic) to cling, hold on.^{[8][7][2][14]}

Word family

• appiccicare
• appicciatura

Related words

• appiccare
• piccare
• Latin pix

References

1. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
2. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 1, 569
6. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
8. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b c d Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 62
13. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 254
14. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it