assalto

Forms

assalto m (plural assalti)^[1] Old and dialect forms include Old Italian asalto, Old Italian arsalto and Old Italian arsolto in Venetian texts, and Old Italian asalt in Bonvesin de la Riva (before 1315).^[2][3] Old texts have Ligurian asato in Genoa and Sicilian assaltu in Sicily (1348).^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *assaltus (“attack”), an unattested Vulgar Latin form of classical Latin assultus, remade after saltus (“leap”).^[3][4][5][6] The classical word belongs to assiliō (“to leap at, assault”), from ad- and saliō (“to leap”);^[4][7][1] Nocentini links the Vulgar Latin noun to the past participle of *assalīre, whose outcome is assalire.^[4][7][1] Wiktionary and Treccani start from Medieval Latin assaltus.^[1][8] GRADIT, Sabatini–Coletti and Gabrielli instead take the noun as formed in Italian from assaltare,^[9][10][11] but the noun is recorded about 1243, and the verb only in the second half of the century.^[2][4]

The same Vulgar Latin noun gave Old French asalt, French assaut, Old Occitan asalt, Catalan assalt, Spanish asalto and Portuguese assalto.^[3][12][4] Romansh assalt was borrowed from Italian, and so was the Croatian word, in the 16th century.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Guido Faba, a Bolognese writer of about 1243, in the sense of an armed attack on someone, in battle or in single combat, or on a place to be taken.^[2] Nocentini dates the word to the first half of the 13th century;^[4][13] DELI's first record is the Italian translation of the Tesoro, at the end of the century.^[4][13]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the word in phrases such as dare or fare assalto “to launch an attack”, and figuratively for a verbal attack, for the onslaught of love, passions, vices or misfortune, and for an amorous advance.^[2] Dante has Mal non vengiammo in Teseo l'assalto (“we did ill not to avenge the assault of Theseus”), and Boccaccio a playful mock attack of horsemen, a guisa d'un assalto sollazzevole.^[14]

A translation of the Fiore di virtù into Middle High German (1468) rendered the word with the calque Ansprung.^[3][15] In fencing assalto became a bout between two fencers, and in boxing a round.^[16][10] Modern military terms include reparti d'assalto “assault units”, mezzi d'assalto (naval craft sent against ships in harbour) and fucile d'assalto “assault rifle”, and the journalistic d'assalto for people who act with great determination, as in pretore d'assalto.^[9][16][17]

Timeline

• About 1243 – Guido Faba uses assalto in Bologna.^[2]
• Late 13th century – The Italian Tesoro and Malispini use the word.^[13][3]
• 1287 – Zingarelli's date for the word.^[16]
• Before 1315 – Bonvesin de la Riva writes Milanese asalt.^[3]
• 1348 – Old Sicilian assaltu.^[3]
• 1468 – Middle High German Ansprung is modelled on the Italian word.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A violent attack on people or places, to rob or harm them: l'assalto al furgone portavalori “the attack on the security van”.^[9][6][16]
2. (military) The decisive phase of an attack, in which troops rush the enemy's positions; an assault.^[9][6][16]
3. (figurative) A crowd's rush to get somewhere first: prendere d'assalto a shop or a train, to crowd into it.^[9][6][17]
4. (figurative) A sudden fit of an illness or a feeling: un assalto di nostalgia “a sudden wave of homesickness”.^[9][11][16]
5. (fencing) A bout between two fencers.^[9][16][10]
6. (boxing, wrestling) A round.^[16][10][1]

Word family

• assaltare
• assaltatore
• contrassalto

Related words

• assalire
• salto
• French assaut

Usage notes

All'assalto! is the cry that urges troops forward, also used jokingly.^[17][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 1769
4. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 78
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
16. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
17. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana