pescare

Forms

pescare (first-person singular present pésco, first-person singular past historic pescài, past participle pescàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin piscor (“to fish”), a verb formed on piscis (“fish”).^[2][3][4][5] Spoken Latin made the deponent active, *piscāre, and DEI notes the classical deponent beside it.^[6][7]

The verb is panromance, though not Romanian: French pêcher, Occitan pescar, Catalan pescar, Spanish pescar and Portuguese pescar.^[3][6][8] De Vaan traces the noun to Proto-Italic *piski-, with an ablaut between Italic and Germanic and the Celtic form that is hard to explain.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is pescar in the Dichiarazione di Paxia, written before 1182, and the TLIO's first text is a Savona document of 1178–1182.^[2][10] The sense is to catch fish with nets, hooks or traps.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian extended the verb to recovering something from water, taking something out of a container, and to the devil fishing for souls;^[10] pescare in bene meant to make a good choice.^[10] Dante used it for searching after truth: “chi pesca per lo vero e non ha l'arte” (whoever fishes for the truth without the skill), and DELI dates the sense “manage to find” to him.^[2][4][11]

The nautical use, of a ship drawing a given depth of water, is in Matteo Palmieri before 1475.^[2] Drawing a card from the pack or a ticket in a lottery is recorded in 1891.^[2] DEI dates pescare nel torbido “to fish in troubled waters” to the 18th century (Salvini) and compares French pêcher en eau trouble;^[6][12] Devoto–Oli calls it a calque.^[6][12] Theatre slang uses the verb for an actor catching a line from the prompter.^[4][11]

Ripescare is recorded in the 15th century, and ripescaggio (1978), a second chance in a competition, follows French repêchage.^[3]

Timeline

• 1178–1182 – A Savona document has the verb.^[10]
• Before 1182 – The Dichiarazione di Paxia has pescar.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for finding something.^[2]
• Before 1475 – Matteo Palmieri uses it of a ship's draught.^[2]
• 1700s – Pescare nel torbido is recorded in Salvini.^[6]
• 1891 – The sense “draw a card or ticket” is recorded.^[2]
• 1978 – Ripescaggio is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To fish for; to catch fish or other water animals with nets, rods or hooks;^[4][12][13] (intransitive) to go fishing: Ogni estate pescavamo trote nel torrente.^[4][12][13]
2. (transitive) To gather from the sea, as pearls, coral or sponges.^[4][12]
3. (transitive) To recover something from the water.^[4][13][12]
4. (transitive, figurative) To draw at random, as a card from the pack or a ticket from an urn.^[4][12][14]
5. (transitive, figurative) To find or dig up, often after a long search.^[4][12][14]
6. (transitive, colloquial) To catch someone in the act: L'hanno pescata mentre usciva dalla finestra.^[4][13][12]
7. (transitive, theatre) To catch a line from the prompter.^[4][12]
8. (intransitive, nautical) Of a vessel, to draw a given depth of water: Il peschereccio pesca tre metri.^[4][13][14]

Word family

• pesca²
• pescata
• pescatore
• peschiera
• pescheria
• pescaggio
• ripescare
• ripescaggio
• pescagione
• pescabile

Related words

• pesce
• piscatorio
• pescoso
• Latin piscis
• French pêcher

Usage notes

DEI lists a separate 20th-century pescare “to catch unawares”, a southern word it takes to be probably a Hispanism, from Spanish pescar.^[6] Pescare nel torbido means to profit from a confused situation.^[12][14]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2870
7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli