mestare

Forms

mestare (first-person singular present mésto or mèsto, first-person singular past historic mestài, past participle mestàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

For DELI, Nocentini, Devoto–Oli and Zingarelli it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *miscitāre, a frequentative of Latin misceō (“to mix”).^[2][3][4][5] GRADIT, Treccani and Wiktionary instead start from *mixtāre, formed on mixtus (“mixed”), the past participle of the same verb.^[6][7][1] Gabrielli and the GDLI leave both open.^[8][9] Wiktionary prefers the second, because the first already gave the old miscidare.^[1] Prati, by contrast, starts from the old mescitare “to mix”, which he takes from the frequentative as well.^[10] Tommaseo saw a contraction of a frequentative.^[11]

Meyer-Lübke puts it under the frequentative with Romansh maschadar, the Engadine maschder “to knead dough”, and Friulian messedâ, and Wiktionary adds Venetian mesedar.^{[12][13][3][1]}

The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Italic *mik-sk-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *miḱ-sḱé-, a present with the suffix ⟨-sk-⟩, and is related to Ancient Greek μίσγω (mísgō) and μείγνυμι (meígnumi, “to mix”) and to Old English miscian.^[14][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Ristoro d'Arezzo in 1282, with the sense “to stir while mixing”.^[2] Ristoro writes that the elements si mestano dal movimento del cielo (“are stirred by the movement of the heavens”).^[9]

Semantic evolution

Through the 14th century the verb is a word of the workshop and the kitchen: Pegolotti stirs molten silver with an iron rod, and the vernacular Palladio stirs honey for five hours.^[9] Treccani notes that it once also meant mixing several substances in a general way.^[7]

The figurative sense of scheming appears before 1590, in Saint Caterina de' Ricci.^[2] The agent noun mestatore “schemer” is recorded from 1618 (Buonarroti the Younger), while Tommaseo records it for “one who stirs” only in 1869.^[2] In 20th-century politics mestatore also rendered French meneur “agitator”.^[15] In Lucca a noun mésta means “bustle”.^[15]

Timeline

• 1282 – Ristoro d'Arezzo uses mestare “to stir”.^[2]
• Before 1590 – Caterina de' Ricci uses the verb for scheming.^[2]
• 1618 – Mestatore “schemer” is recorded.^[2]
• 1869 – Tommaseo records mestatore “one who stirs”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To stir a liquid or semi-liquid mass with a spoon, ladle or stick: Bisogna mestare il risotto senza fermarsi.^[6][4][16]
2. (transitive) To mix or put together.^[6][7]
3. (intransitive, figurative, colloquial) To scheme or intrigue to get something: Ha mestato per mesi per avere quell'incarico.^{[6][4][17][16]}
4. (intransitive) To bustle about doing many things to no purpose.^[6][7]

Word family

• mestatore
• mestola
• mestolo
• rimestare
• tramestare
• tramestio
• mestamento
• mestatoio
• mestone

Related words

• mescere
• mescolare
• mischiare
• miscidare
• Latin misceō

Usage notes

Mestare nel torbido is to fish in troubled waters, to stir up trouble for one's own gain.^[6] The stressed vowel is close in mésto for Devoto–Oli, Zingarelli and Treccani, and Wiktionary gives mèsto as well.^{[4][5][16][1]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
8. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
9. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 10, 224
10. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 657
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
14. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
15. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2438
16. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse