preda

Forms

preda f (plural prede)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin praeda (“booty, spoils of war”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin word is continued in most Romance languages: Old French preie (whence the English word prey), French proie, Occitan preza, Portuguese prea (also Old Spanish), and Romanian pradă.^[3][5] Meyer-Lübke explains the closed vowel of the French, Occitan and Spanish forms, against the open vowel of Italian, by the influence of Latin prēnsa.^[5] The Latin word also passed into the Celtic languages.^[6]

The Latin word, written praida in old inscriptions, is a compound of Latin prae- and the root of prehendō (“to seize”), usually explained as “what one takes”.^[2][3][7][8] De Vaan, following Livingston, prefers a form with the o-grade of the root.^[9][1] The root is Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to take hold”), which Devoto says appears without a nasal infix in Germanic and with one in Ancient Greek χανδάνω (khandánō, “to hold, contain”).^[7][9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in the Statutes of Montagutolo (1280–1297), uses the word in a legal sense, a thing seized as a pledge or the seizure itself.^[2] The sense “goods taken by force in raids and plunder” follows in Domenico Cavalca, before 1342.^[2] GRADIT and Nocentini date the word to 1297.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word for plunder and devastation as well as for the goods taken, in phrases such as mettere a preda “to give over to pillage” and andare in preda.^[10] Dante uses it for an animal caught in the hunt (1310–1313), and this sense, the animal that a predator catches and eats, is now one of the main ones.^[2][4]

The figurative uses grew from both: a person whom someone has in their sights, and the phrases essere preda di and in preda a, to be at the mercy of something, of fear, of the flames, of the waves.^[4][11] In international law preda and diritto di preda name the enemy property that a belligerent may seize in war.^[12]

Timeline

• 1280–1297 – The Statutes of Montagutolo use preda for a seizure or pledge.^[2]
• 1290–1295 – The verb predare is recorded in the sense “to seize as a pledge”.^[2]
• 1300 ca. – Predatore “plunderer” appears in the vernacular Albertano.^[2]
• 1310–1313 – Dante uses preda for an animal taken in the hunt, and predone “robber”.^[2]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses preda for plunder taken by force.^[2]
• 1300s – Predatore is used for an animal that lives by hunting others.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. booty, plunder: what is seized by force, especially the goods taken in war or a raid.^[4][11][13]
2. Stolen goods, loot: i ladri fuggirono lasciando la preda in strada.^[4][12]
3. prey, an animal caught or about to be caught by another to be eaten; also the game taken by hunters.^[4][11][1]
4. (figurative) A person someone has designs on, especially for money or sex: l'imbroglione aveva scelto la sua preda.^[4][13]
5. (figurative) In essere preda di or in preda a: in the power of, overcome by something: era in preda al panico.^[4][11][13]
6. raid, pillage, especially in fare preda.^[4][12]

Word family

• predare
• predatore
• predone
• predatorio
• depredare
• depredatore
• depredazione

Related words

• prendere
• Latin praeda
• Latin prehendo

Usage notes

The phrase animali da preda means animals that hunt, “beasts of prey”.^[13] GDLI also lists preda as an old and dialect form of pietra “stone”.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3054
7. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 14, 73
11. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ 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
14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 14, 11