rapina

Forms

rapina f (plural rapine)^[1] Old Italian also wrote rappina, rampina and ranpina.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin rapīna (“robbery, plunder”), a learned word.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]} The Latin noun is formed from rapiō (“to seize, carry off”), the source of rapire, with the suffix -īna, as ruīna comes from ruō (“to fall”).^{[9][4][10][1]}

De Vaan derives rapiō from a root Proto-Indo-European *h₁rep- (“to snatch”);^[1] Schrijver proposed *h₁reh₁p- instead.^[1] The popular outcome of rapīna is Old French ravine “robbery; violence”, which became French ravine “torrent; gully”.^[11] Nocentini compares Spanish rapiña.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Cremonese poet Uguccione da Lodi, early in the 13th century.^[2] DELI's earliest date is for the literary sense “sweeping force”, in Oddo delle Colonne before about 1250, and the sense “robbery” follows before 1292 in Bono Giamboni, who defines it as a taking of others' goods by force (uno predamento per forza dell’altrui cose).^[3][12]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word covered robbery, theft by skill, plunder and the booty taken, and phrases such as vivere di rapina (to live by robbery; of animals, by hunting) and uccelli di rapina, birds of prey.^[2] It could also mean abduction or rape, and a violent force.^[2] Dante uses the last sense of the infernal storm that drives the spirits: mena li spirti con la sua rapina.^[8][13][14] The Maestruzzo, following Saint Thomas, judged it graver than furto, because it wronged the person as well as the goods.^[15]

DELI dates the sense “unjust extortion” and the meaning “goods taken by robbery” from the 14th century.^[3] Modern criminal law distinguishes rapina propria from rapina impropria, violence used just after a theft to keep the goods or escape.^[12] In football slang a gol di rapina is a goal snatched from a defender's mistake.^[16][7][17]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses rapina.^[2]
• Before c. 1250 – Oddo delle Colonne uses it for a sweeping force.^[3][7]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for robbery.^[3]
• 14th century – The senses “extortion” and “booty” are recorded.^[3]
• 1300–1313 – Dante writes of the storm's rapina in the Inferno.^[8][14]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law) robbery: taking someone's property by violence or threats: rapina a mano armata.^{[8][16][13][7]}
2. (uncommon) The loot from a robbery.^[8][16][7]
3. plunder, the sacking of a country by soldiers: Le bande vivevano di rapina.^[8][16][7]
4. Extortion; the misappropriation of public wealth.^[8][16][14]
5. (hyperbolic) An excessive price, a rip-off: Dieci euro per un caffè? È una rapina!^[8][16][13]
6. Of animals, hunting other animals for food: uccelli di rapina, birds of prey.^{[8][13][7][14]}
7. (literary) The violent force of wind or water that sweeps things along.^[8][13][7]
8. (archaic) abduction, especially of a woman.^[8][7][14]
9. (football) Gol di rapina: a goal scored by quickly exploiting an opponent's mistake.^[16][7][17]

Word family

• rapinare
• rapinatore
• rapinoso
• antirapina

Related words

• rapire
• furto
• Latin rapīna
• Latin rapiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3208
6. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 824
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 15, 455
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 e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
17. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli