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passata

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word passata

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1348–1353, Giovanni Boccaccio
Ultimate origin
Latin passus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Italian passare
Italian passata
From the same root
Italian passaggio ← passare

Pronunciation

  • /pasˈsa.ta/[1]

Forms

passata f (plural passate)[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian passare + -ata,[2][3][1] or, as Devoto and Treccani describe it, the feminine past participle of the verb used as a noun.[4][5] The verb comes from Vulgar Latin *passāre, from Latin passus (“step”).[6][7]

Two old senses came from French passade: “a fleeting love affair” and a figure of the riding school, which DEI says also came through English.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Boccaccio (1353), in the sense “the act of passing”;[6][2] GRADIT dates the word to 1348–1353.[6][2] In the Decameron a lover incominciò a far le passate dinanzi alla casa di costei, “began to walk to and fro in front of her house”.[9][10]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th and 16th centuries passata was especially the passage of an army through a country, and the coming of foreign armies into Italy: Guicciardini writes of the time when people most feared la passata dei Francesi.[11][10][12] Distillers spoke of brandy di prima passata, that had passed through the still once.[10]

Fencing took it for a dodge made by ducking (1609), riding for a slow cadenced gait (second half of the 16th century), and card games for the stake set at the start (1804).[13] Hunting used it for the passage of game from 1827–1831, and in 1835 Giusti used it for a quick glance or reading; a quick going-over of a surface is recorded in Magalotti before 1712.[6] The kitchen senses are recent: a quick browning in the pan is in the Zingarelli dictionary of 1970, and passata as tomato purée sold in jars or bottles is in the 2009 supplement of GDLI.[6][11]

Timeline

  • 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses passata for “passing”.[6][2]
  • Second half of the 16th century – It is a term of the riding school.[13]
  • 1609 – It is recorded as a dodge in fencing.[13]
  • Before 1712 – Magalotti uses it for a quick going-over of a surface.[6]
  • 1827–1831 – It is used for the passage of game.[6]
  • 1835 – Giusti uses it for a quick reading.[6]
  • 1970 – The sense “quick browning” is recorded.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A quick going-over of a surface: a wipe, a coat of paint or polish, a quick ironing: Il tavolo ha bisogno di una passata di cera.[2][14][3]
  2. A quick reading, a glance: Ho dato solo una passata agli appunti prima dell'esame.[2][3][9][1]
  3. (cooking) A quick browning in the pan.[2][14][9]
  4. (cooking) passata, tomato purée, usually sold in bottles or jars: Per il sugo serve una bottiglia di passata.[2][14][1]
  5. (cooking) A purée soup of vegetables or pulses.[14][3][9]
  6. A brief spell of something: a shower of rain, a fit of anger.[3][9][5]
  7. (hunting) The passage of game; the place where it passes; a system of nets for catching birds there.[3][5][12]
  8. (engineering) A pass of a machine tool over the piece being worked.[2][14][5]
  9. (sport) In fencing, a dodge; in riding, a passade.[2][3][13]

Word family

  • passatina
  • passatella

Usage notes

Di passata means “in passing”, briefly.[9][5][12] Most of the everyday senses occur in the phrase dare una passata (di vernice, al giornale, in padella).[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  4. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d e f Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  7. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2792
  9. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  10. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  11. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  12. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  13. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  14. ^ 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
Cite this entry

“Passata.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/passata. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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