mattare

mattare¹ to checkmate

Etymology tree of mattare¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin madeō

Latin mattus

French mat

English matte

Italian matto

Italian mattare

From the same root · mattare¹

Latin madēscō ← madeō

Latin madidus ← madeō

Forms

mattare (first-person singular present màtto, first-person singular past historic mattài, past participle mattàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

The word for checkmating is formed from Italian matto + -are, from the adjective of the chess phrase scacco matto.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The TLIO and GDLI also derive it from the chess term.^[6][7] DELI traces that adjective to the Persian formula declaring that the king of the chessboard is dead.^[8][9][10]

The same verb was formed in the other Romance languages: French mater, Occitan matar, Catalan matar, Spanish matar and Portuguese matar, meaning to checkmate and so to overcome or defeat.^[9][10] In Spanish and Portuguese the verb also means “to kill”.^[9]

In the 19th century Tommaseo–Bellini still suggested a link with Latin mactō (“to sacrifice”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Florentine Pistole di Seneca, from before 1325, and GRADIT dates the verb to about 1336.^[6][2] The sense is the chess move that leaves the opponent's king without defence.^[2][3] Boccaccio's Filocolo describes such a game: the castellan laughs, seeing that he will checkmate Filocolo, e dandogli con una pedona pingente scacco, quivi il mattò “and giving him check with a pawn, there he mated him”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

From the 14th century the verb was used figuratively: to defeat, overcome, confound or refute an opponent in argument.^[12][7] Fra Giordano says that Christ beat and checkmated his questioners, and in a novella of Franco Sacchetti a man boasts non trovai mai nessun uomo che mi mattasse, ed un fanciullo mi ha vinto “I never found a man who could checkmate me, and a boy has beaten me”.^[7][5][11]

The past participle could be the short form matto as well as mattato.^[7][11] Zingarelli marks the figurative sense as obsolete, while Treccani still gives it as “to defeat, to leave someone unable to react”.^[13][14] Gabrielli lists an old sense “to overpower, humiliate”.^[15]

Timeline

• Before 1325 – The Florentine Pistole di Seneca has the verb.^[6]
• About 1336 – GRADIT's date of first record.^[2]
• 14th century – The figurative sense “to confute, beat in argument” appears.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (chess) To checkmate the opponent: Il nero mattò il re avversario in tre mosse.^{[2][3][4][14]}
2. (figurative) To defeat, get the better of someone, leave them unable to respond.^[2][14][13]
3. (obsolete) To overpower or humiliate.^[15][7]

mattare² to kill

Etymology tree of mattare²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin mactus

Latin mactō

Italian mattare

From the same root · mattare²

Latin macte ← mactus

Forms

mattare (first-person singular present màtto, first-person singular past historic mattài, past participle mattàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

The word for killing is learned in DELI's view: it is borrowed from Latin mactō (“to honour; to sacrifice; to kill”).^{[8][2][13][4][7]} DELI derives the Latin verb from mactus, used in sacrificial prayers, so that its first sense was to honour the gods, then to sacrifice a victim, and finally to kill.^[8][1] DEI notes that the Latin of Italy of the 7th to the 10th centuries had already moved from “to immolate” to “to kill”.^[12] Devoto saw no clear connections for the Latin verb.^[16]

Nocentini rejects this, above all because Spanish matar and Portuguese matar cannot continue the Latin cluster ⟨ct⟩.^[17] He derives the verb from Vulgar Latin *mattāre (“to strike down with a club”), a variant of *mattiāre (“to strike with a club”), from *mattea (“club”), the source of mazza.^[17] The TLIO and Devoto–Oli follow him.^[6][3] He notes that a Latin text of the 8th century already has the verb meaning “to kill”, and Ibero-Romance in the 10th century.^[17] He also sets aside the derivation from the chess formula, Corominas's view, and the FEW's from Late Latin mattus (“sad, dejected”).^[17]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Bono Giamboni's Florentine translation of Orosius, from before 1292, with the sense “to slaughter, kill”.^[6][2][8] Giamboni also uses it for a sacrifice, in per mattare una pecora della sua greggia “to sacrifice a sheep of his flock”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb for sacrificing a victim, for killing, and for torturing or tormenting, and by extension for defeating or crushing someone.^[7][6] DEI dates the senses “to punish, to torment” to the 14th century.^[12] Gabrielli adds a figurative “to chastise”.^[15]

The verb fell out of the standard language: GRADIT marks it obsolete and Sabatini–Coletti old.^[2][4] It lived on in central Italy, and in 1855 Ugolini called it a good old word, very much alive among the people of the Metauro valley.^[8] It was a word of Siena, Ancona and Rome, and its derivative mattatoio “slaughterhouse” (1864) won out over Florentine ammazzatoio.^[8] Its agent noun mattatore first meant the slaughterman, and in the sense “star performer who overshadows the others” it is modelled on the Spanish matador.^[8][17] In the 20th century Emilio Cecchi still writes of bulls that were very hard to slaughter (molto duri a farsi mattare).^[7]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses the verb in his translation of Orosius.^[6][2][8]
• 14th century – The senses “to punish, to torment” are recorded.^[12]
• 1855 – Ugolini describes the word as alive in the Metauro valley.^[8]
• 1864 – Mattatoio “slaughterhouse” is recorded from Perugia.^[8]
• 1942 – Mattatore is recorded in the sense “dominant personality”.^[8][17]

Meanings

Verb

1. (archaic, regional) To kill or slaughter: In paese mattavano il maiale a gennaio.^{[2][3][4][14][1]}
2. (archaic) To sacrifice or immolate a victim.^[2][15][13]
3. (archaic) To torture or torment.^[13][15][1]

Word family

• mattatoio
• mattatore
• mattazione