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mollare

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word mollare

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1303–1306, Giordano da Pisa

Pronunciation

  • /molˈla.re/[1]

Forms

mollare (first-person singular present mòllo, first-person singular past historic mollài, past participle mollàto, auxiliary avére)[1]

Etymology

It is a verb formed from molle “soft, yielding”, so first “to slacken”.[2][3][4][5][1] Nocentini counts it as an Italian formation of Romance origin.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is intransitive, “to give in, stop”, in Cecco Angiolieri (before 1313) and in the sermons of Giordano da Pisa (1303–1306).[2] Boccaccio writes of someone who non mollò mai until he had become Buffalmacco's friend, “never gave up”.[6]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the verb was a sailors' word: a song of the time has da la pope mola via la soga, “let go the rope at the stern”, and Bartolomeo Crescenzio (1602) describes slackening the sheets.[2][7][6] The transitive sense “to loosen or let go” is recorded in D'Ayala's naval dictionary of 1853.[2]

Colloquial senses spread in the 20th century: “to stop it” (1918), “to give, land” a blow (Gadda, 1957), and “to leave, dump” a job or a partner.[2][4] The phrase tira e molla “give and take; shilly-shallying” comes from pulling and slackening a rope.[8][9]

Timeline

  • 1303–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses mollare “to give in, stop”.[2]
  • Before 1313 – Cecco Angiolieri uses the same sense.[2]
  • 14th century – Molare “to let go a rope” appears in a song.[2]
  • 1602 – Bartolomeo Crescenzio uses mollare as a nautical term.[2]
  • 1853 – D'Ayala records “to slacken, let go”.[2]
  • 1918 – Panzini records “to stop it”.[2]
  • 1957 – Gadda uses it for “to land” a blow.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To let go, loosen: mollare la presa.[4][8][5]
  2. (nautical) To slacken or cast off a rope, mollare gli ormeggi, to cast off, mollare l'ancora, to drop anchor.[4][9][10]
  3. (colloquial) To leave, abandon, dump: Ha mollato il lavoro in banca per aprire un bar.[4][9][8]
  4. (colloquial) To land (a blow), to give; to palm off: mollare uno schiaffo.[4][9][10]
  5. (intransitive) To give up, yield: Non mollare proprio adesso![4][5][8]
  6. (intransitive, colloquial) To stop doing something.[4][8]
  7. mollarsi (colloquial): to split up.[8][11]

Word family

  • molla
  • ammollare
  • smollare
  • molle
  • mollo

Usage notes

A second, regional and northern mollare means “to soak, to soften in water”, as in mettere a mollare i fagioli; it is formed from mollo “wet”, influenced by molle, and is recorded from the 14th century.[1][9][8][12] Boccaccio's mollare is an old synonym of “to stop, cease”.[6] The imperative molla! is an order to let go.[8][11]

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 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 e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  6. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  7. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  11. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  12. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2489
Cite this entry

“Mollare.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/mollare. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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