distrarre

Forms

distrarre (first-person singular present distràggo, first-person singular past historic distràssi, past participle distràtto, first-person singular imperfect distraévo, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian distraere and Old Italian distraggere, and Old Italian also had destrarre.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin distrahō (“to pull in different directions, pull apart”), taken over in writing.^[5][6][7][3] The Latin verb is formed dis- (“apart”) and trahō (“to pull”).^[5][6][8] Its conjugation was adapted to that of trarre, the inherited outcome of trahō.^[1][9][10] The same Latin verb gave French distraire and Spanish distraer.^[6]

De Vaan traces trahō to Proto-Italic *traxe/o-; its closest cognates are Celtic words for “ebb” and “ran away”, and the root may be a loan shared by Italic and Celtic.^[11] Nocentini finds no sure comparison for it.^[6]

Migliorini, followed by DELI, traces the senses from the legal Latin one, diverting a sum of money, to “distracting the mind from a thought”, and much later to distracting someone from his worries and so to distrarsi “to amuse oneself”.^[5] The usual sense of distratto, “absent-minded”, was traced by E. Lerch to the medieval mystics: in the Imitation of Christ distractus is the person whom outward things draw away from recollection in himself and in God.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Jacopone da Todi, in the late 13th century, with the sense of drawing the mind away from its condition or purpose.^[12] DELI's earliest dated sense, from the early 14th century translation of Livy, is “to pull here and there with force, to detach from a place”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the verb also meant to use money or goods for a purpose other than the one intended (Vito da Cortona's translation) and to turn aside, divert (before 1342, Cavalca).^[5] The TLIO records further old senses: to separate a thing from the whole, to descend from a lineage, to draw conclusions from an argument, and to tear to pieces.^[12] The reflexive distrarsi, letting one's thoughts wander from what one is doing, appears before 1498 in Savonarola, and “to amuse oneself” before 1787 in G. B. Roberti.^[5]

The physical sense survived in science: Galileo writes of the parts of a ship that cannot be separated or distratte, and anatomists of tissues that are stretched.^[4][13] It lives on in medicine, of a strained muscle or tendon.^[7][8] The participle distratto took the sense “lost in thought” in Ariosto's in gran pensier distratto (1516), and distrazione “amusement” is recorded in 1798 (Carlo Gozzi).^[5]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – Jacopone da Todi uses the verb.^[12]
• Early 14th century – The Italian translation of Livy uses it for pulling apart.^[5]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses distrarre “to divert” and distrazione.^[5]
• Before 1498 – Savonarola uses the reflexive for letting the mind wander.^[5]
• 1516 – Ariosto has in gran pensier distratto (lost in deep thought).^[5]
• 1757 – Distrazione is recorded as a medical term.^[5]
• Before 1787 – G. B. Roberti uses distrarsi “to amuse oneself”.^[5]
• 1798 – Carlo Gozzi uses distrazione for amusement.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To turn (the gaze, the attention) elsewhere, to divert: Distrasse gli occhi dalla scena.^[7][10][14]
2. To distract: to draw someone away from an activity and break their concentration: La musica dei vicini mi distrae dal lavoro.^[7][10][14]
3. To take someone's mind off something, to amuse: Una passeggiata ti distrarrà.^[7][10][2]
4. (uncommon) To use money or goods for a purpose other than the one intended, often unlawfully; to misappropriate.^[7][10][14]
5. (medicine, uncommon) To strain a muscle or tendon.^[7][10][15]
6. (archaic) To pull apart with force.^[2][1]
7. (reflexive, distrarsi) To lose one's concentration, let one's mind wander.^[2][14][15]
8. (reflexive, distrarsi) To relax, amuse oneself.^[2][14][16]

Word family

• distratto
• distrazione
• distraibile
• distraimento
• distrattivo

Related words

• trarre
• attrarre
• Latin distrahō
• French distraire

Usage notes

It is conjugated like trarre: distraggo, distrassi, distratto.^[1][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 383
4. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli