predare

Forms

predare (first-person singular present prèdo, first-person singular past historic predài, past participle predàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin praedor (“to take booty, plunder”) or its active by-form Late Latin praedāre, from praeda (“booty”).^[2][3][4][5] Zingarelli and the GDLI call it learned.^[6][7] DELI notes that the active form is found in Late Latin, and Treccani that Plautus already has the participle praedātus in a passive sense.^[8][9] Wiktionary instead has it inherited from Vulgar Latin *praedāre, and DEI and the REW list it with the popular outcomes Romanian prăda, Sardinian preare (“to distrain”), Old French preer and Portuguese prear.^[1][10][11]

praeda goes back to *prai-heda “what is taken”, from prae- and the root of prehendō (“to grasp”).^[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is a Florentine document of 1290–1295, where the verb means “to distrain”, to seize goods as a pledge.^[8] Nocentini and GRADIT date the word to 1295, and Zingarelli to 1268.^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to sack, pillage” is in M. Villani before 1363, whose raiders set out a scorrere e a predare il paese.^[8][12] The vernacular Guido delle Colonne says that the Greeks took all the movable goods as booty and carried them to the ships (tutte le cose mobili predaro e portaro alle navi).^[12][7] Iacopone has predata for a soul seized by the devil.^[10]

The verb is also used of animals that catch other animals for food, and in literature of bees that rob flowers of their nectar, as in Poliziano's bee that giva predando or uno, or altro fiore.^[3][6][9] The old sense “to distrain” is now archaic.^[4][3]

Timeline

• 1290–1295 – A Florentine document uses it for “to distrain”.^[8]
• Before 1363 – M. Villani uses it for “to sack”.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To take by force, to plunder or raid: I briganti predavano i carri dei mercanti.^[3][4][6][1]
2. To sack, pillage a place: Le truppe predarono la campagna intorno alla città.^[3][4][13]
3. Of an animal, to catch prey;^[3][6][5][1] (intransitive) to hunt: Il gufo preda soprattutto topi.^[3][6][5][1]
4. (literary, figurative) Of bees, to suck the nectar from flowers.^[3][6][9]
5. (archaic) To distrain, to seize goods as a pledge.^[3][4][6]

Word family

• predatore
• predatorio
• predamento
• predazione

Related words

• preda
• depredare
• Latin praeda

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ 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
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 14, 11
8. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3055
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse