presa

Forms

presa f (plural prese)^[1]

Etymology

It is the feminine of preso, the past participle of prendere, used as a noun.^[2][3][4][5] Devoto traces the participle to Late Latin presus, and the verb continues Latin prehendō (“to seize”).^[6][3] Nocentini notes the abstract sense “act or manner of taking” and the concrete one “amount taken”, and sees French prise and Spanish presa (“prey”) as parallel formations.^[3]

The sense “plot of land” goes back to Medieval Latin prehensa, a portion of land assigned to a settler for cultivation, recorded as ⟨presa⟩ at Bologna in 1250.^[3][7] In the agricultural sense “division of a field for different crops”, recorded in 1558, DEI sees an adaptation of the Lombard word for a strip of field.^[7]

Two phrases are calques of French: the phrase for “taking possession” follows French prise de possession (about 1560), and the phrase for “awakening, coming to awareness” follows French prise de conscience, which passed from psychology into politics and then into everyday language.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Devoto–Oli date the word to the 12th–13th century.^[4][5] DEI has it for a portion of land at Bologna in 1262 and for a seizure of goods at Verona in 1276.^[8] DELI's first record of the sense “act and manner of taking” is Francesco da Barberino in 1314.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the word meant the thing taken and, in military use, the capture of a town: Giovanni Villani tells of the sultan's presa of Antioch, and the capture of Otranto by the Turks is a presa in Bandello.^[2][9][8] It also meant imprisonment.^[10] From the 15th century it named a handle or anything used to grip, and the jaws of pincers.^[8][2]

Technical senses multiplied later: the diversion of water from a main channel (before 1742), a pinch of cinnamon (1815) or of snuff (1841), the padded cloth for holding a hot iron or pot (1839–41, the Tuscan word beside many regional ones), the goalkeeper's catch in football (1958) and the electric socket (1970).^[2] In music it named the sign that shows where the voices enter in a canon (1533); French had it from 1703 and English from 1724.^[11] The phrase macchina da presa is the film camera, and far presa is said of cement that sets, of a plant that takes root and, figuratively, of words that win people over.^[12][13][5] Modern Greek took the word over as préza, a pinch of snuff.^[8]

Timeline

• 1262 – A presa of land is recorded at Bologna.^[8]
• 1276 – The word is used for a seizure at Verona.^[8]
• 1314 – Francesco da Barberino uses it for the act of taking.^[2]
• 14th century – Giovanni Villani uses it for the capture of a city.^[8][9]
• 1533 – The musical sense in canons is recorded.^[11]
• About 1560 – French prise de possession appears, the model of presa di possesso.^[2]
• 1677 – Daniello Bartoli uses it for anything that serves to grip.^[2]
• 1815 – Presa di cannella, a pinch of cinnamon, is recorded.^[2]
• 1839–1841 – The kitchen pot-holder is called presa.^[2]
• 1958 – The goalkeeper's catch is recorded.^[2]
• 1970 – The electric socket is recorded in the Zingarelli dictionary.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of taking or gripping, a grip or hold: Non mollare la presa sulla corda.^[4][12][13]
2. (sports) A hold in wrestling or judo, and the goalkeeper's catch of the ball in football.^[4][12][14]
3. The grip or jaws of a tool such as pincers.^[4][13]
4. The setting or hardening of cement, plaster or glue: cemento a presa rapida.^[4][15]
5. The capture of a town or stronghold: la presa di Roma.^[4][12][14]
6. A pinch, the amount taken between finger and thumb: una presa di pepe.^[12][2]
7. A handle or hold, and a padded cloth for holding hot pans, usually presina.^[12][13][15]
8. An intake for water, air or gas, and an electric socket (presa di corrente).^[12][13][2]
9. (cinema) Shooting, filming, in macchina da presa, the film camera.^[12]

Word family

• presina
• presella

Related words

• prendere
• preso
• French prise

Usage notes

Common phrases include essere alle prese con (to be grappling with a problem), far presa (to set, to take root, to make an impression), presa di posizione (stand, declared position), presa di coscienza (coming to awareness) and presa in giro (teasing, mockery).^[5][15][14] Wiktionary gives both /ˈpre.za/ and /ˈpre.sa/; the voiced ⟨s⟩ is the northern pronunciation.^[1][12]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3067
8. ^ a b c d e f g Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3066
9. ^ 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, 204
10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli