cavalcare

Forms

cavalcare (first-person singular present cavàlco, first-person singular past historic cavalcài, past participle cavalcàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian calvacare, Old Italian carvacar and Old Italian cavalchar.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin caballicō (“to ride a horse”), formed from caballus (“horse, workhorse”).^[4][5][6][1] The Late Latin verb is recorded from the early 6th century, in Anthimus and the Salic Law, but its spread across the whole Romance area shows that it is older.^[3][7] The same verb is French chevaucher, Occitan cavalgar, Catalan cavalgar, Spanish cabalgar, Portuguese cavalgar, Sardinian caḍḍigare and Romanian încăleca (“to mount a horse”).^[5][8][9] The Italian forms lost the vowel after /l/ before /k/ could be voiced to /g/, and so belong to the same early layer as Old French chevalcher of about 1140.^[3]

De Vaan regards Latin caballus as a loanword of unclear ultimate source; Ancient Greek καβάλλης (kabállēs, “nag”) is independent of it, and Beekes thought of an Asian word.^[10] Wiktionary adds that it is often taken from Gaulish *kaballos.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur of the last quarter of the 12th century, with the sense “to go or travel on horseback”.^[2] DELI has the intransitive verb from about 1267 in Orlanduccio Orafo, “ride slowly and I will tell you the truth” (cavalca piano e dicerotti il vero), and the transitive “to mount a horse or another animal” before 1292 in Bono Giamboni.^[4][11]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb for riding any animal or even a wooden beam, for sitting astride, for mating, for raiding enemy country with cavalry and attacking on horseback, for passing over something, and figuratively for governing or subduing.^[2] Of arches and bridges that pass over hollows, roads and rivers it is recorded from 1618.^[4] The modern figurative sense is to exploit a situation that others have created, as in cavalcare la protesta;^[12][13][14] cavalcare la tigre is to try to master a very difficult situation.^[12][13][14]

DÉRom gives the Proto-Romance verb the senses of being in the saddle, mounting a horse, sitting astride and covering a female.^[9] French cavalcade, recorded from the 15th century, comes from the Italian derivative cavalcata.^[7] Campidanese Sardinian cavalcai is borrowed from Italian.^[1]

Timeline

• 1175–1200 – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur have the first record.^[2]
• About 1267 – Orlanduccio Orafo uses the verb for riding.^[4]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for mounting a horse or another animal.^[4]
• 13th century – Cavalcatura “mount” is recorded.^[5]
• 14th century – Cavalcata and scavalcare are recorded.^[5]
• 15th century – French borrows cavalcade.^[7]
• 1618 – Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger uses cavalcare of arches passing over a hollow.^[4]
• 18th century – Cavalcavia “overpass” is formed.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To ride or mount a horse or another animal: cavalcava una giumenta grigia.^[6][12][13]
2. (transitive) To sit astride something: il bambino cavalcava il bracciolo del divano.^[6][13]
3. (transitive) Of a bridge or other raised structure, to span, pass over: un ponte di pietra cavalca il canale.^[6][13][14]
4. (transitive, figurative) To exploit a trend or situation created by others: cavalcare il malcontento.^[12][13][14]
5. (transitive, vulgar) To have sex with.^[6][12]
6. (transitive, archaic) To ride along a road; to overrun enemy country with cavalry.^[6][12][14]
7. (intransitive) To ride, go on horseback: cavalcare senza sella;^[6][12][14] cavalcare all'amazzone, riding sidesaddle.^[6][12][14]

Word family

• cavalcata
• cavalcatura
• cavalcatore
• cavalcavia
• scavalcare
• cavalcante

Related words

• cavallo
• cavalcioni
• Latin caballus
• French chevaucher

Usage notes

The present is cavalco, cavalchi, with ⟨h⟩ before ⟨i⟩ and ⟨e⟩, and the auxiliary is avere.^[12][14][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 9, 33
4. ^ a b c d e f 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 824
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli