mesticare

Forms

mesticare (first-person singular present mèstico or méstico, first-person singular past historic mesticài, past participle mesticàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] An old variant is misticare.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *mixticāre (“to mix”), formed from Latin mixtus (“mixed”), the past participle of misceō (“to mix”).^{[5][6][7][8][9][1]} GRADIT and Devoto–Oli call it a frequentative or intensive of the Latin verb.^[6][7][10] The same Vulgar Latin verb gave Romanian amesteca (“to mix”) and Dalmatian meskuar.^[4][5] L'Aquila had Old Italian mestecare in 1381.^[11]

According to Nocentini the painters' sense developed from an older “to mix”.^[5] The Latin participle goes back to Proto-Italic *mikstos.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini dates the verb to the second half of the 13th century, and Zingarelli to before 1306.^[5][8] The early sense is the general one, “to mix”: in the Roman Vita di Cola di Rienzo the defenders of a castle mix sulphur, pitch, oil and turpentine and throw the mixture onto a siege engine.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The general sense “to mix substances” lasted into the 16th century, in Soderini's work on agriculture.^[3][12][13] A writer could also misticare truth with lies.^[14]

From the 16th century the verb belonged to the painters: Vasari writes of mixing colours, and Borghini of mixing umber with red earth for a bronze colour.^[12][14] The noun mestica, the ground of earths spread on a canvas or panel before painting, is recorded from the middle of the 16th century.^[5][11] Baldinucci has mesticatore and mestichino, the painter's palette knife, in 1681, and mesticheria, a Tuscan shop selling paints and varnishes, is recorded from 1853.^[11][5] Mesticanza “mixed salad” goes back to the middle of the 13th century.^[5]

Timeline

• Second half of the 13th century – Nocentini's date of first record.^[5]
• Before 1306 – Zingarelli's date.^[8]
• 1381 – Mestecare is recorded at L'Aquila.^[11]
• Middle of the 16th century – Mestica “painter's ground” is recorded.^[5]
• 1681 – Baldinucci records mesticatore and mestichino.^[11]
• 1853 – Mesticheria “paint shop” is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (painting) To mix the substances from which paints are made, or blend colours on the palette to get the shade wanted: Mesticava l'ocra con un po' di bianco.^{[6][7][2][9][8]}
2. (painting) To prime a canvas or panel with mestica.^{[6][7][9][15]}
3. (archaic) To mix, stir together.^[6][7][2][9]

Word family

• mestica
• mesticheria
• mesticanza
• mesticatore
• mestichino

Related words

• mescolare
• mischiare
• misto
• Latin misceō

Usage notes

The present is mèstico or méstico.^[1][8] The GDLI records a rare old verb mesticarsi “to become familiar, make friends”, a shortening of domesticare.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
3. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2438
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
14. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 657
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli