macchiare

Forms

macchiare (first-person singular present màcchio, first-person singular past historic macchiài, past participle macchiàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] An old spelling is Old Italian machiare.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *maclāre, from Latin maculō (“to stain, to spot”), a verb formed from macula (“spot, stain”).^{[1][3][4][5][6]} Sabatini–Coletti calls it the word of popular tradition beside the learned maculare.^[7] The verb lives on in Italy and Spain, as Spanish manchar.^[8][9] Meyer-Lübke adds, with doubt, Portuguese magoar, and a verb meaning “to snow” in the dialect of Comelico, perhaps first a participle meaning “spotted”, then “snowed on”.^[9]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *smatlo- for the Latin noun and, with a question mark, Proto-Indo-European *smh₁-tlo- (“wiping”), comparing a Greek verb for wiping; he finds a stain as “smearing” conceivable but not compelling.^[10] Wiktionary derives it from a root *smeH- (“to wipe”) and compares Ancient Greek σμάω (smáō, “to wipe clean”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini dates the verb to 1274.^[3] DELI's first dated use, in the sermons of Giordano da Pisa of 1302–1305, is already figurative: to disfigure with offences or sins.^[11][4] The literal sense, to soil with stains, follows before 1333 in Simintendi, who tells how a man throws a body down from a rock and stains the broken cliff with blood (macchia lo rotto scoglio di sangue).^[11][2]

Semantic evolution

The reflexive use for staining oneself with sin is recorded in 1354 in Passavanti, who writes of the soul that is foully stained and soiled by sin (per lo peccato sconciamente si macchia e lorda).^[11][12] In 1550 Vasari applied the verb to painting with patches of colour, the technique later tied to the Macchiaioli, and decorators still use it for painting wood or walls in imitation of the veins of marble or fine timber.^[11][6] The pronominal sense “to get stained” appears in 1666 in Magalotti.^[11]

Ariosto used it of tears on a face (non macchiare con queste tue lacrime sì polite guance).^[4][13] The sense “to add something that changes the colour of a food” is first recorded in 1833 in the Milanese press, and gives macchiare il caffè, to add a drop of milk to coffee, and the caffè macchiato.^[11][4][6] Macchiarsi di a crime means to be guilty of it.^[13][7]

Timeline

• 1274 – First record of macchiare.^[3]
• 1302–1305 – Giordano da Pisa uses it figuratively, for disfiguring with sins.^[11][4]
• Before 1333 – Simintendi uses it for staining with blood.^[11]
• 1354 – Passavanti uses the reflexive for staining oneself with sin.^[11]
• 1550 – Vasari uses it for painting with patches of colour.^[11]
• 1666 – Magalotti uses the pronominal form for getting stained.^[11]
• 1833 – The Milanese press uses it for adding something that changes a colour.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stain, to soil with one or more spots or marks: Ho macchiato la camicia di caffè.^[4][5][7][6]
2. (intransitive) To leave stains: Attento, il succo di mirtillo macchia.^[5][7][14]
3. To add a little of another liquid to a drink, changing its colour or taste: macchiare il caffè, to add a drop of milk.^[4][5][6]
4. (figurative) To sully, to tarnish someone's honour, name or conscience.^[4][5][6]
5. (painting, decorating) To paint wood or a wall in imitation of the veins of marble or fine timber; to paint with patches of colour.^[4][5][7][6]
6. (literary) To wet with tears; to cover with writing.^[4]
7. (pronominal, macchiarsi) To get stained; figuratively, to be guilty of a crime: Si è macchiato di tradimento.^{[5][7][13][6]}

Word family

• macchiato
• smacchiare
• ammacchiare
• macchiabile
• macchiamento
• macchiatore
• rimacchiare

Related words

• macchia
• macchiatura
• macchioso
• maculare
• Latin macula
• Spanish manchar

Usage notes

Macchiare la fedina penale is to acquire a criminal record.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
7. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2297
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli