incespicare

Forms

incespicare (first-person singular present incéspico, first-person singular past historic incespicài, past participle incespicàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian incispicare.^[2] The older incespitare is recorded in the 16th century.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian in- + cespicare (“to stumble”).^{[5][6][7][1][2]} This verb is a variant of cespitare, from Late Latin caespitō (“to stumble”),^[5][6][7][2] a verb made on caespes (“turf, sod”), so properly “to strike against a clod of earth”.^[5][8] Nocentini explains the ending as a change of suffix,^[6] while GRADIT derives the verb from cespo (“tuft, bush”) with the suffix -icare.^[9] The TLIO's first sense, catching one's foot in a tuft or other obstacle, fits that association.^[2]

Most dictionaries take the prefix as the local in- meaning “in, into”,^{[5][6][7][10]} while the GDLI gives it an intensive value.^[11] The origin of caespes is unknown.^[12] Its first meaning may have been “a piece cut off”.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Florentine Esposizione del Paternostro of Zucchero Bencivenni, from the early 14th century, already in a figurative sense: a man knows his Creator “without doubting and without stumbling” in the faith of Christ.^[2][5][13]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense, striking one's foot against an obstacle, is recorded in 1354 in Passavanti.^[5][11] Boccaccio describes men falling as they stumble and tangle their legs, alcuni incespicando e avvolgendo le gambe caddero.^[11][13] The verb could also mean to sway or fall.^[11][2]

The figurative sense, hesitating or lacking fluency, especially in speaking or reading, continues in the modern language.^[5][9][14] Fogazzaro has a character stumble over an armchair in the dark.^[11]

Timeline

• Early 14th century – Zucchero Bencivenni uses incespicare figuratively, of faith without hesitation.^[2][5]
• 1354 – Passavanti uses the verb in the literal sense “to stumble”.^[5][9]
• 16th century – The variant incespitare is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To stumble or trip; to catch one's foot on an obstacle; inciampare: incespicò su un sasso del sentiero.^{[9][14][7][1]}
2. (intransitive, figurative) To falter, to hesitate or proceed with difficulty, especially in speaking or reading.^[9][14][7]

Word family

• incespico

Related words

• cespicare
• cespitare
• cespo
• cespite
• inciampare

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1985
4. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
5. ^ 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
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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 7, 659
12. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ 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