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battere

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word battere

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
12th century, Proverbia que dicuntur
Inherited from
Latin batto
Ultimate origin
Latin battuō

Pronunciation

  • /ˈbat.te.re/[1]

Forms

battere (first-person singular present bàtto, first-person singular past historic battéi, past participle battùto, auxiliary avére)[1] Old Italian forms include batere (Venetian), batare (Verona), bactere and battare (Tuscany).[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin battere, the popular form recorded from Fronto in the 2nd century AD, which replaced classical battuere, used since Plautus.[4][5][6] The word continues in every Romance language: French battre, Occitan batre, Catalan batre, Spanish batir, Portuguese bater, Sardinian bàttire, Friulian bati and Romanian bate.[7][6][2] In many of them it pushed out the classical verb for “to strike”, Latin feriō.[6]

The origin of the Latin verb is unknown.[4][5][8] Nocentini notes doubtful Celtic comparisons, the OLD calls it Gallic, and Wiktionary suggests a borrowing from Gaulish or Germanic, perhaps ultimately onomatopoeic, compared with Welsh bathu (“to coin”).[7][9][1] Devoto takes the double ⟨tt⟩ as expressive.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur of the 12th century.[3] DELI and the LEI date the sense “to strike, to hit” to Giacomo da Lentini, around 1250.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the verb for a heart that beats (Bono Giamboni, before 1292), for rain falling hard (Dante, 1300–1313) and for knocking at a door (Boccaccio, 1353).[4] The TLIO adds threshing grain, working wool, minting coin and striking fire from a flint.[3] In 1290 the rule of a confraternity at Cividale del Friuli asks each brother to beat his body as hard as he can (quanto el po batir lo so corpo), and the flagellants were called battuti.[4]

“To defeat” is first recorded in Pietro Bembo, before 1547, and battersela, to slip away, in Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger in 1618.[4] Battere la fiacca, to idle, comes from Piedmontese or from army slang modelled on battere la ritirata.[4] In the 20th century the verb came to mean typing (battere a macchina) and, with no object, walking the streets as a prostitute, as in Pasolini.[8][11] Italian forms dozens of compounds of the type batticuore (a racing heart, before 1556) and battibecco (a squabble, 1848).[4]

Timeline

  • 2nd century – Fronto writes Latin battere.[4][6]
  • 12th century – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur use the verb.[3]
  • Around 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses it for striking.[4][2]
  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for the heart's beating.[4]
  • 1290 – A confraternity at Cividale prescribes self-flagellation with batir.[4]
  • 1353 – Boccaccio uses battere for knocking at a door.[4]
  • Before 1547 – Pietro Bembo uses it for defeating.[4]
  • 1618 – Battersela appears in Buonarroti the Younger.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive) To beat, to strike repeatedly: battere il ferro sull'incudine.[8][12][13]
  2. (transitive) To hit a person or animal, to beat.[8][13]
  3. (transitive, agriculture) To thresh grain, or to knock fruit from a tree: battere le olive.[8][12]
  4. (transitive) To defeat, to beat: Ha battuto il campione in due set.[8][13][1]
  5. (transitive) Of a clock or bell, to strike the hours, or to mark the rhythm: battere il tempo.[8][14]
  6. (transitive) To knock a part of the body against something: Ho battuto il ginocchio contro il tavolo.[8][13]
  7. (transitive) To type: battere a macchina un verbale.[8][15][1]
  8. (transitive) To scour or patrol an area: La polizia ha battuto tutto il quartiere.[13][1]
  9. (transitive, sport) To take a kick, or to serve in tennis and volleyball: battere una rimessa laterale.[8][15]
  10. (intransitive) Of the heart, to beat, and of rain or the sun, to beat down: Il sole batteva sui tetti.[13][4]
  11. (intransitive, colloquial) To work as a street prostitute.[8][1]
  12. (pronominal, battersi) To fight, to duel: battersi per la libertà.[4][12]

Word family

  • battente
  • battito
  • battuta
  • battuto
  • battitore
  • battitura
  • battigia
  • battibaleno
  • battibecco
  • batticuore
  • battimano
  • battistrada
  • battiscopa
  • imbattersi
  • ribattere
  • sbattere
  • controbattere

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include battere cassa, to ask for money, battere il ferro finché è caldo, to strike while the iron is hot, battere la fiacca, to slack off, and in un battibaleno, in a flash.[8][15][14][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
  3. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 462
  6. ^ a b c d Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
  7. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. Supplemento 2009
  12. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  13. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  15. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli

Related etymologies

  • no · also from Latin
  • cosa · also from Latin
  • a · also from Latin
  • mio · also from Latin
  • uno · also from Latin
  • si · also from Latin
  • sapere · also from Latin
  • fare · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Battere.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/battere. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·