assaggiare

Forms

assaggiare (first-person singular present assàggio, first-person singular past historic assaggiài, past participle assaggiàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian assaiare and the northern Old Italian asazar and Old Italian asaçà.^[2][3]

Etymology

DELI, Nocentini, GRADIT and Devoto–Oli explain it as formed from Italian a- + saggiare, the prefix continuing Latin ad-.^{[4][5][6][7][8]} The verb Saggiare belongs with saggio² “test, assay”, from Late Latin exagium (“weighing”), formed from exigō (“to weigh, measure”).^[5][4][9]

DEI derives it instead from a Latin verb formed on the same noun with the prefix changed, as in Old Occitan asajar, Catalan assaig and Spanish asayar.^[10] The TLIO judges the etymology uncertain: it puts DEI's verb *exagiare first and finds the Italian formation from the verb less likely, and it allows for influence from Gallo-Romance.^[10][2] REW lists it among the derivatives of this Late Latin noun, beside French essayer.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Contrasto of Cielo d'Alcamo (1231–1250), a Sicilian poem in a Tuscan copy; its oldest senses were “to test, to try out”.^[2] DELI's first record of the sense “to taste food or drink” is the late 13th-century Italian version of the Tesoro.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb widely for testing and trying: to probe an enemy's strength in combat, to explore a road, to suffer pain or death, and to attempt something.^[2] Beside these it meant tasting a little of a food or drink, beginning to eat, and, as a noun, the sense of taste.^[2] Tommaseo records a Tuscan saying advising against tasting at the apothecary's.^[12]

In modern Italian the sense of tasting prevails; the old sense “to assay” is now rare, the usual verb being saggiare.^[6][8][9] Jokingly one can assaggiare il bastone, get a beating.^[7][13] The noun assaggio is recorded from the early 14th century, as is assaggiatore, a taster of wines and food.^[4]

Timeline

• 1231–1250 – Cielo d'Alcamo uses the verb in the Contrasto.^[2]
• 1250 – Medieval Latin assazator “measurer” is recorded at Bologna.^[4]
• Late 13th century – The Italian Tesoro uses it for tasting.^[4]
• Early 14th century – Assaggio and assaggiatore are recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To taste: to try a little of a food or drink to judge its flavour, cooking or quality: assaggiare il sugo.^{[6][7][14][1]}
2. To eat or drink very little of something, to nibble: Del dolce ha preso solo un boccone.^[6][14][1]
3. To begin to eat or drink.^[6][8]
4. (uncommon) To assay or test, the same as saggiare.^[6][7][8]
5. (figurative) To experience, especially something unpleasant: assaggiare il bastone.^[6][7][13]

Word family

• assaggio
• assaggiatore
• assaggiatura
• riassaggiare

Related words

• saggiare
• saggio
• French essayer

Usage notes

The TLIO records a separate, occasional assaggiare in the Fatti di Cesare (late 13th century), an adaptation of Old French essalcier “to exalt”.^[2] Tommaseo quotes the remark that one says assaggiare il vino, not saggiare.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ 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, 744
4. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse