Etymologically
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arresto

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Pronunciation

  • /arˈrɛs.to/[1]

Forms

arresto m (plural arresti)[1]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun from Italian arrestare (“to stop; to arrest”).[2][3][4][5] The verb continues a Vulgar Latin *arrestāre (“to stop”), formed with the prefix ad- on restāre (“to stay behind, stop”).[2][3][1] The LEI holds that it must be a Late Latin form, since it survives in Gallo-Romance, Ibero-Romance and Italo-Romance.[6][2] The same verb is French arrêter, Occitan arestar, Catalan arestar, Spanish arrestar and Portuguese arrestar, and the French noun is arrêt.[3][7]

Sabatini–Coletti takes the legal sense “ruling of the Court of Cassation” from the French noun.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is Il Fiore, a Florentine poem of the late 13th century.[9][3] In Old Italian the word is found above all in the phrase senza arresto “without delay”, and in law for holding a person or seizing goods by order of the authorities.[9]

Semantic evolution

The general sense “act of stopping or being stopped” is dated by DELI to Giovanni Villani, before 1348, and Matteo Villani writes that an army sanza arresto levarono il campo, “broke camp without delay”.[2][10] The penal sense, a restriction of personal liberty imposed by law, is recorded in 1699, and the mechanical sense, a device that stops a moving part, in 1853.[2]

In modern Italian arresto is the arrest of a suspect by the police, and in the plural, arresti, a disciplinary punishment for officers;[4][11][12] arresti domiciliari is house arrest.[4][11][12] In medicine it is the sudden stop of an organ's function (arresto cardiaco), and in sport the stopping of a game by the referee or the control of a ball.[4][11][13] A battuta d'arresto is a pause or setback.[4][12]

Timeline

  • Late 13th century – Il Fiore uses arresto.[9][3]
  • Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it for “stopping”.[2]
  • 1699 – The penal sense “detention” is recorded in F. Corsini.[2]
  • 1853 – The mechanical sense “stop, catch” is recorded in D'Ayala.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. stop, halt: the stopping of a movement or activity: Il macchinista ha provocato l'arresto del convoglio.[4][11][8]
  2. Interruption, suspension, as in battuta d'arresto “setback, pause”.[11][12]
  3. (law) arrest: the taking of a person into custody by the police, or detention as a penalty: Il ladro è stato messo in stato di arresto.[4][11][12]
  4. (military, in the plural) A disciplinary punishment confining an officer or non-commissioned officer to quarters.[4][11][12]
  5. (medicine) The sudden cessation of a bodily function, as in arresto cardiaco “cardiac arrest”.[4][11][13]
  6. (sport) The stopping of a game by the referee, or the stopping of the ball by a player.[4][12]
  7. (mechanics) A device that stops or limits the movement of a part of a machine.[4][8][12]
  8. (dated) seizure, confiscation of goods.[4][9]

Usage notes

An obsolete arresto “decree, sentence of a sovereign or a court” (Botero, before 1588) is a separate borrowing of Old French arrest (1175), the noun of the verb that became French arrêter.[4][14][15]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 1372
  7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  8. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  9. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  14. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 301
  15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli