masticare

Forms

masticare (first-person singular present màstico, first-person singular past historic masticài, past participle masticàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old and dialect forms include northern Old Italian mastegar, recorded in Bonvesin da la Riva, and Old Italian mastigare and Old Italian mastucare.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin masticāre (“to chew”).^[2][5][6][1] The verb is pan-Romance: French mâcher, Occitan mastegar, Catalan mastegar, Spanish mascar, Portuguese mascar, Sardinian mastigare and Romanian mesteca.^[5][7] DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance verb on this evidence: all branches except Dalmatian have it.^[8]

The Latin word is recorded only from Marcellus Empiricus, in the 4th–5th century;^[8][2] DELI dates it to the 4th century.^[8][2] It is from Ancient Greek μαστιχάω (mastikháō, “to grind the teeth”), a medical term that came into common use because classical Latin mandere left no Romance descendant and mandūcāre had come to mean “to eat”.^[8][1] The Greek verb is formed from Ancient Greek μάσταξ (mástax), “mouth” according to DELI and “jaw” according to Nocentini, one of a family of expressive, everyday words.^[2][5][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is Andrea da Grosseto's Tuscan translation of 1268, where the verb is used figuratively for considering something carefully.^[3][10] The literal sense, crushing food with the teeth before swallowing, is found in Bonvesin da la Riva's rules of table manners (no mastegar dra boca) and in a Sienese translation of Egidio Romano of 1288.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Zucchero Bencivenni used mastichare in 1310, and Domenico Cavalca, before 1342, gives DELI's first Tuscan example of the literal sense.^[2] The sense “to mumble, mutter” appears in Ser Giovanni (about 1385), as in masticare salmi, saying psalms without feeling them; the TLIO records this use for mechanical prayer.^[2][3][9] Galileo, before 1642, used the verb for suffering in silence, the source of masticare amaro and masticare veleno, to swallow one's anger.^[2][10]

In familiar use one mastica a language one speaks badly (mastica un po' di tedesco).^[6][11] Masticazione is recorded about 1350, masticatorio in 1561 and masticatore in 1803.^[2] The English word masticate is recorded in 1649.^[4]

Timeline

• 4th–5th century – Late Latin masticare is recorded in Marcellus Empiricus.^[8]
• 1268 – Andrea da Grosseto uses masticare.^[3][10]
• 1310 – Zucchero Bencivenni uses mastichare.^[2]
• Before 1315 – Bonvesin da la Riva uses mastegar.^[2][3]
• About 1350 – Masticazione is recorded.^[2]
• About 1385 – Ser Giovanni uses the verb for mumbling.^[2]
• Before 1642 – Galileo uses it for suffering in silence.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To chew: to crush and grind food with the teeth before swallowing it; also without an object: Il cane masticava l'osso con calma.^[6][11][12]
2. To keep something between the teeth for its taste or out of habit: masticare tabacco;^[6][11][10] gomma da masticare, chewing gum; also to nibble at a pen or pencil.^[6][11][10]
3. (figurative) To mumble, say indistinctly: masticare una giustificazione.^[6][11][10]
4. (colloquial) To know a language or subject only a little: Mastico appena lo spagnolo.^[6][11][13]
5. (figurative) To brood over something;^[6][10][13] masticare amaro, masticare veleno, to nurse a bitter resentment.^[6][10][13]

Word family

• masticazione
• masticatorio
• masticatore
• masticatura
• rimasticare
• masticabile
• masticamento

Related words

• Latin masticō
• French mâcher
• English masticate

Usage notes

A separate masticare, “to coat with mastic”, is recorded in DEI and the GDLI; it is formed from mastice, after French mastiquer.^[14][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
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 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. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d e Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
9. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9, 905
15. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2386