asta

Forms

asta f (plural aste)^[1] An old plural was asti: Villani writes of a cloth levato in asti, raised on poles.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin hasta (“spear; staff, pole”).^[3][4][5][1] The same Latin word gave Old French haste, Occitan asta, Spanish asta and Portuguese hasta.^[4][6]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *χastā- and compares Middle Irish gat (“osier”), gass (“twig”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌶𐌳𐍃 (gazds, “sting”), Old High German gart and Old Norse gaddr (“goad”), from Proto-Germanic *gazda-.^[7][1] Nocentini sets up an Indo-European base meaning “shoot, branch”, while de Vaan thinks the word is probably not Indo-European at all: Latin ⟨-st-⟩, Irish ⟨-t⟩ and Germanic ⟨*-zd-⟩ point to a cluster in a loanword.^[4][7] Wiktionary also finds a substrate origin likely.^[1] The comparison with Sanskrit हस्त (hásta, “hand”) that Devoto considered is called uncertain by Nocentini and unlikely by Wiktionary.^[8][4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Roman Storie de Troia e de Roma (1252–1258), and Nocentini dates the word to the middle of the 13th century with the sense “pole”.^[9][4] In Old Italian an asta was a pole carrying a flag, a tool or a weapon, and the shaft of a spear or lance.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The sense “auction” comes from Roman law: a spear was planted where the goods of debtors to the public treasury were sold, and goods were sold sub hasta “under the spear”.^[3][4][10] Boccaccio has the Italian sense in 1341–1342, and Late Latin subhastare gave subastare “to sell by auction” in the first half of the 14th century.^[3][4] By 1855 Fanfani noted that one also said vendere alla tromba, because such sales were announced with a trumpet.^[3]

The vertical stroke of a letter was called asta in the Crusca dictionary of 1691;^[3] Boccaccio had called it gambo.^[3] The TLIO already records the stroke and the phrase lungo come un’asta for a tall, thin person.^[9] The pole of the pole vault was named in 1942.^[3] Dante used the diminutive asticciola for an arrow, and asticella is recorded before 1685 in Bartoli.^[3]

Timeline

• 1252–1258 – Asta appears in the Roman Storie de Troia e de Roma.^[9]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses asta for “lance”.^[3]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for a long, thin, straight stick.^[3]
• 1341–1342 – Boccaccio uses it for a sale to the highest bidder.^[3]
• 1691 – The Crusca dictionary records asta for the vertical stroke of a letter.^[3]
• 1942 – The vaulting pole of athletics is named asta.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pole, rod or bar that holds something up or forms part of an object or machine: l’asta della bandiera, l’asta della stadera.^[5][11][12]
2. A sidepiece of a pair of glasses, the temple.^[5][11][1]
3. (literary) A spear, a lance.^[5][11][12]
4. (firearms) The forearm of a shotgun, the part on which the barrels rest.^[5][1]
5. (athletics) The pole used in the pole vault: salto con l’asta.^[5][11][12]
6. (zoology) The main beam of a deer's antler.^[5][1]
7. A short straight line, as in a writing exercise, and the vertical stroke of a letter.^[5][11][12]
8. (nautical) A small spar of a sailing ship, such as a jib boom.^[11][12]
9. An auction, a public sale to the highest bidder: Il quadro è stato venduto all’asta.^[5][11][12]
10. (euphemistic) The penis.^[5][1]

Word family

• asticciola
• inastare
• asticella
• subastare
• subasta
• asticina
• asteggiare
• astista
• astone

Usage notes

DEI makes the auction a separate headword, while DELI and Nocentini explain it from the same word.^[10][3][4] A flag a mezz’asta, at half-mast, is a sign of mourning.^[11][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 336
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c d e f g Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)