chiappare

Forms

chiappare (first-person singular present chiàppo, first-person singular past historic chiappài, past participle chiappàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *clapāre, from Latin capulāre (“to catch with a noose”), a derivative of capulum (“noose, halter”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} Wiktionary explains the form by metathesis of a contracted *caplāre.^[1] Nocentini and the GDLI start from an Italian *cappiare, with the ⟨l⟩ moved forward.^[3][6]

The Latin verb is recorded in the 1st century, in Columella, for haltering cattle.^[7][8] The LEI notes that it survives only in conservative parts of Italy, with a form with doubled /pp/ that is also Dalmatian klapúr, Friulian clapâ and Romansh clappar.^[7] The sense moved from catching with a noose to seizing in general.^[7] The same verb is Venetian ciapar and Lombard ciapà.^[1][9]

The noun is formed from Latin capiō (“to take”) + -ulum, and the verb is also the source of capire.^[1][3] From the same noun Italian has cappio.^[2][3][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in the Leggende di Santi of the early 14th century, with the sense “to catch, seize”: Saint John chiappò la croce di mano a colui che la teneva (“snatched the cross from the hand of the one who held it”).^[2][6] The TLIO's first record is in Cavalca's Vite dei Santi Padri (1321–1330), in the sense of catching up with someone running or walking.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb already meant both to catch up with someone and to grip something firmly.^[10] Later writers use it for catching by surprise, capturing and arresting: Manzoni writes of catching the parish priest unawares (chiapparlo all'improvviso).^[6][11] It also came to mean to filch money, as in Verga's chiappare il soldo.^[12][5]

The word is now popular or regional beside the more usual acchiappare.^[11][4][13] Compounds of the imperative are chiappacani (1915), the dog-catcher, and chiappanuvole, a daydreamer (chiappanuvoli before 1850 in Giusti, chiappanuvole 1927 in Bacchelli); chiapparello was a deceit (1863) and then the children's game of tag (1956).^[2]

Timeline

• 1st century – Columella uses Latin capulāre for haltering cattle.^[7]
• Early 14th century – Chiappare appears in the Leggende di Santi.^[2]
• 1321–1330 – Cavalca uses it in the Vite dei Santi Padri.^[10]
• Before 1850 – Giuseppe Giusti has chiappanuvoli.^[2]
• 1863 – Chiapparello “deceit” is recorded.^[2]
• 1915 – Chiappacani “dog-catcher” is recorded.^[2]
• 1956 – Chiapparello is recorded as the name of the game of tag.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (colloquial) To catch or grab; the same as acchiappare: Chiappò il gatto per la coda.^{[4][13][12][1]}
2. (colloquial) To catch up with someone: Il cane chiappò la lepre in fondo al campo.^[13][5][11]
3. (colloquial) To surprise, to catch in the act or off guard.^{[4][13][5][1]}
4. (colloquial) To arrest.^[13][11]
5. (colloquial) To snatch or filch.^[5][12]

Word family

• acchiappare
• chiappo
• chiappino
• chiapparello
• chiappacani
• chiappanuvole
• richiappare

Related words

• chiappa
• cappio
• capire
• Latin capulum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 11, 307
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ 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)
12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier