Etymologically
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cacciare

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Pronunciation

  • /katˈt͡ʃa.re/[1]

Forms

cacciare (first-person singular present càccio, first-person singular past historic cacciài, past participle cacciàto, auxiliary avére)[1] Old northern forms include Old Italian caçar and Old Italian chazar in Venice, Old Italian cazare in Milan and Old Italian cazzare in Bologna.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *captiāre (“to hunt”), an intensive verb formed on Latin captus (“caught”), the past participle of capiō (“to take”); classical Latin had captō (“to try to catch”).[4][5][6][1] The Vulgar Latin verb is not recorded, but the Romance languages show that it existed; the adjective Late Latin captiōsus (“intent on hunting”) of the 6th century also points to it.[3][1] DEI and Devoto think that the Tuscan form is an adaptation of the northern Old Italian cazar, which also spread to the southern dialects.[7][8]

The same verb is French chasser, Occitan casar, Catalan caçar, Spanish cazar, Portuguese caçar, Friulian çhaçâ, Sardinian cazzare (“to drive away”) and Romanian acăța (“to grab, to hang”).[5][3][9] Romanian keeps the oldest sense, “to seize”; elsewhere the verb replaced Latin vēnor (“to hunt”) and, unlike capiō, also took on the opposite meaning “to drive away”, probably after Romanian had split off in the 3rd century.[3][7] DELI quotes Padoan: the step from “to take” to “to hunt, to put to flight, to expel” is natural enough.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Venetian Proverbia quae dicuntur super natura feminarum of the last quarter of the 12th century, in the sense “to chase an animal in order to catch it”.[2] A Medieval Latin cazare is found at Parma in 1255.[4] DELI's first record of the sense “to drive away, to expel” is Ugieri Apugliese, at the beginning of the 13th century.[4]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses the verb for hunting, of Ugolino's dream of the wolf and its cubs, cacciando il lupo e ' lupicini al monte, and for relentless pursuit, of the hound that la caccerà per ogne villa, “will hunt her through every town”.[10][11][4] The sense “to push with violence” is in Rustico di Filippo before 1300, and “to pull out” in Boccaccio in 1353.[4] The LEI arranges the many senses in six groups: to pursue; to drive away, banish or push; to throw; to put forth, as a plant does shoots; to thrust in; and to pull out.[3]

The noun caccia “hunt” is in Giacomo da Lentini before 1250, and later named a musical and poetic form with a hunting text and, from 1918, a destroyer.[4] With the meaning “to push” the verb forms cacciavite “screwdriver” and cacciatorpediniere “destroyer”.[4][5] Caccia alle streghe is a calque of English witch hunt of the 1950s, and cacciatore di teste of head hunter.[4]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century – Cacciare appears in the Venetian Proverbia quae dicuntur super natura feminarum.[2]
  • Early 13th century – Ugieri Apugliese uses it for “to drive away”.[4]
  • Before 1250 – Caccia “hunt” is recorded in Giacomo da Lentini.[4]
  • 1255 – Medieval Latin cazare is recorded at Parma.[4]
  • Before 1300 – Rustico di Filippo uses it for “to push with violence”.[4]
  • 1304–1308 – Dante uses it for “to pursue relentlessly”.[4]
  • 1353 – Boccaccio uses it for “to pull out”.[4]
  • 18th century – Cacciavite “screwdriver” is formed.[5]
  • 1905 – Cacciatorpediniere “destroyer” is recorded.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive) To hunt, to chase wild animals in order to catch or kill them; also without an object, to go hunting: In autunno il nonno cacciava le starne.[6][12][13]
  2. (transitive) To pursue, to hunt down a person: I carabinieri cacciavano i fuggiaschi.[6][12]
  3. (transitive) To drive away, to expel, to throw out; also figuratively, of thoughts or moods: Lo hanno cacciato dal locale, cacciare la tristezza.[6][12][13][14]
  4. (transitive) To push with force: Con una spinta lo cacciò nel fosso.[6][15]
  5. (transitive, colloquial) To thrust, to stick, to put: Dove ho cacciato le chiavi?, cacciare il naso in other people's business, to meddle.[6][12][13]
  6. (transitive) To pull out, to take out: Cacciò il portafoglio dalla tasca.[6][12][13]
  7. (transitive, colloquial) To let out a cry or a sigh: cacciare uno strillo.[6][12][13]
  8. (transitive) Of plants, to put forth shoots.[6][12]
  9. (reflexive) Cacciarsi: to get into, to push one's way into; colloquially, to end up somewhere: dove si è cacciato il gatto?[14][15][13]

Word family

  • caccia
  • cacciatore
  • cacciagione
  • cacciata
  • scacciare
  • ricacciare
  • cacciavite
  • cacciatorpediniere
  • cacciabombardiere
  • cacciasommergibili
  • cazzare
  • captare
  • French chasser
  • Spanish cazar

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 11, 829
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 652
  8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 73
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  12. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana