carpare

Forms

carpare (first-person singular present càrpo, first-person singular past historic carpài, past participle carpàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin carpere (“to pick, to pluck”), moved into the first conjugation.^[2][3][1] Sabatini–Coletti posits a Vulgar Latin *carpare.^[4] The same change gave Sicilian carpari (“to seize”).^[5][6][1] The usual Romance outcome moved into the fourth conjugation instead, as in carpire, Old French charpir and Spanish carpir.^[5][6]

The Latin verb is from Proto-Italic *karp- and Proto-Indo-European *kerp- (“to pick, pluck”), the source of Ancient Greek καρπός (karpós, “fruit”) and Old English hærfest (“autumn”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dino Compagni (about 1312), in the sense “to seize, to take by force”.^[8][5]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses the gerund for climbing on hands and feet up a slope: i' mi sforzai, carpando appresso lui (“I forced myself on, clambering after him”, Purgatorio IV, 50).^[9][8] Buti glossed it as going on all fours.^[9][10] The sense “to seize” lasted into the 16th and 17th centuries, with Sassetti (1587), Davanzati and Allegri.^[5][9]

Timeline

• About 1312 – Dino Compagni uses it for seizing.^[5][8]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses carpando in the Purgatorio.^[2][11]
• 1587 – Filippo Sassetti uses it for seizing.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (archaic) To seize or grab violently; to snatch (carpire).^[2][12][3]
2. (archaic, intransitive) To go on all fours, to clamber.^[2][12][8]

Related words

• carponi
• carpire
• Latin carpō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
4. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier