cecare

Forms

cecare (first-person singular present cèco, first-person singular past historic cecài, past participle cecàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] It is also spelled ciecare, and the stressed vowel may become ie: cèco or cièco, cèchi or cièchi.^[2][3][4] Old forms include cechare, Sicilian chiecari and Neapolitan cicare.^[5][6]

Etymology

It is an archaic and regional form of accecare.^[1][4] The LEI and Devoto–Oli take it as inherited: it is inherited from Latin caecāre (“to blind”), from caecus (“blind”).^[6][7][2][4] The TLIO, GDLI and GRADIT instead derive it within Italian from cieco.^[5][8][9]

The Latin verb also survives in Friulian seyá, Lombard sigà in Milan, Old Catalan cegar and Old Spanish cegar.^[6][10][11] De Vaan traces the adjective to Proto-Indo-European *keh₂i-ko- (“one-eyed”), with cognates in Old Irish cáech (“one-eyed”) .^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Jacopone da Todi, in the figurative sense: Omo, tu se’ engannato, ca esto monno t’ha cecato (“Man, you are deceived, for this world has blinded you”).^[5][8][2] A Venetian chronicle of 1301 has it for blinding a person by putting out the eyes.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian cecare meant to take away a person's sight, figuratively to darken the mind, and also to cancel.^[5] It was common in central and southern texts: Roman and Aquilan writers of the 14th century, and Sicilian ones, used it for putting out an eye.^[6] Tommaseo cites Annibal Caro's letters, Un Ulisse che ciechi Polifemo (“an Ulysses to blind Polyphemus”).^[13]

Today it is archaic or regional, central and southern, and is used mostly in jocular oaths, “may they blind me if it isn't true”.^[3][9][7] Silone has Neanche se mi cecano (“Not even if they blind me”).^[8] In Corsica the verb means to put out the eyes.^[6]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – Jacopone da Todi uses cecato figuratively.^[5]
• 1301 – A Venetian chronicle uses cecare for blinding a person.^[6]
• 1337 – A Messinese translation of Valerius Maximus has cecari l'ochi.^[6]
• 1517 – Corsali uses cecare.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (archaic or regional, central and southern Italy) To blind; to accecare.^[9][7][4][1]
2. (figurative, archaic) To cloud someone's judgement.^[5][2]

Related words

• accecare
• cieco
• Latin caecus

Usage notes

Southern Italian cecato means “blind”.^[11] In Calabria cecare also means to hide.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
3. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 9, 516
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 834
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET