Etymologically
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gettare

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Pronunciation

  • /d͡ʒetˈta.re/[1]

Forms

gettare (first-person singular present gètto, first-person singular past historic gettài, past participle gettàto, auxiliary avére)[1] The old and literary form is Old Italian gittare, also Old Italian giettare; northern texts have forms in ç- and z- such as çetar, and Wiktionary also lists iettare.[2][3][4][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *iectāre (“to throw”), a form of classical iactāre (“to throw, toss”), the frequentative of iaciō (“to throw”).[2][5][6][7] DELI explains the vowel by the compounds, where ⟨-iact-⟩ had become ⟨-iect-⟩ (coniectāre, iniectāre); Devoto took it from ēiectāre (“to throw out”) with the loss of the first vowel.[2][8] DEI, DELI and GDLI treat the Vulgar Latin form as unrecorded, while the TLIO, following the FEW, counts it as attested, and Wiktionary calls it Late Latin.[4][1]

The verb is pan-Romance except in Romanian, which kept the compound as Romanian aiepta: French jeter, Occitan getar, Catalan getar, Spanish echar, Portuguese geitar and Sardinian bettare.[5][9][10] The simple verb has its present built on the perfect iēcī, which matches Ancient Greek ἦκα (hêka, “I sent, I threw”); it goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(H)ieh₁- (“to throw, let go”), the root of Ancient Greek ἵημι (híēmi).[5][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur of the late 12th century.[4] DELI notes getà “they threw” in the Ritmo bellunese of 1193, though the pronunciation is uncertain, and dates gittare to Giordano da Pisa (before 1311) and gettare to the Tavola ritonda of the 14th century;[2] Dante uses both.[2] The first sense is “to fling something away from oneself”.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

For centuries gittare was a strong rival of gettare.[2] Technical senses came early: casting molten metal or plaster in a mould (gittare before 1348 in Giovanni Villani, preceded by Medieval Latin zetatum at Parma in 1255), pouring concrete, building a bridge across a gap (15th century), and figuratively laying the foundations of something (1354, Passavanti).[2] From the verb come gettata (before 1292), later also a breakwater (1798), which Nocentini sees as modelled on French jetée, getto “throw, casting, jet” (before 1313), and gettito (before 1667), later also “yield, revenue” (1796).[2][5]

Many idioms grew around it: gettare la spugna “to throw in the towel”, gettare olio sul fuoco “to add fuel to the fire”, and gettare la polvere negli occhi “to throw dust in someone's eyes”, which may follow French jeter la poudre aux yeux, though its early Italian use leaves room for an independent origin.[2][6]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century – The Proverbia que dicuntur have the verb.[4]
  • 1193 – The Ritmo bellunese has getà.[2]
  • 1255 – Medieval Latin zetatum “cast” is recorded at Parma.[2]
  • Before 1311 – Giordano da Pisa uses gittare.[2]
  • Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it for casting metal.[2]
  • 14th century – The Tavola ritonda has gettare.[2]
  • 1550 – Vasari uses gettare for pouring concrete.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To throw, to fling: Ha gettato il sasso più lontano di tutti.[6][7][12]
  2. To throw away, to discard; to waste (money, time): Non gettare quel cappotto, è ancora buono.[6][7]
  3. To push down, to knock to the ground: L'onda lo gettò sulla sabbia.[6][7]
  4. To emit, to pour out (of a fountain or tap); of plants, to put out shoots: Le rose hanno già gettato i primi germogli.[6][12]
  5. (figurative) To give out (a cry, a smell); to bring about suddenly; to plunge into a state: Quella lettera lo ha gettato nella disperazione.[6][7]
  6. (figurative) To lay (blame) on someone.[6][13]
  7. To cast in a mould, to pour (concrete): gettare una campana in bronzo.[6][12][7]
  8. (reflexive, gettarsi) To throw oneself, to jump; to rush at something.[12][13]

Word family

  • getto
  • gettata
  • gettito
  • gittata
  • gitto
  • sopraggitto
  • gettacarte

Usage notes

Gettare and buttare are near synonyms;[1][7][13] gittare is now only literary.[1][7][13] Gettare giù means both “to demolish” and “to jot down” (a few lines).[7][13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 713
  4. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  5. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1795
  10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  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 d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  13. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana