ricattare

Forms

ricattare (first-person singular present ricàtto, first-person singular past historic ricattài, past participle ricattàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian recatare, Old Italian recaptare and Old Italian ricatare.^[2] The LEI also has Sicilian recattari and ricactari from Sicily.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *recaptāre, “to take by force”, formed with the intensive prefix re- and Latin captāre (“to try to seize”).^[4][5][6][1] The Latin verb is the frequentative of capiō (“to take”).^[1][7] Alessio's DEI starts instead from Vulgar Latin *accaptāre and suspects a link with French racheter.^[8] Alessio also saw the word as riscattare remade after the French verb, but Varvaro showed that the dates rule this out.^[8][4] The LEI files the word under that Vulgar Latin verb, “to buy”, the source of accattare, with a change of prefix.^[3] Körting compares the French verb and Old Spanish recabdar.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the old form recatare to 1305.^[6] DELI's first record is recatare in the Italian version of Guido delle Colonne, 1350–1375, and the LEI has Sicilian recattari before 1337; all mean “to ransom, redeem”.^[4][3] An Old Italian translation of Gregory the Great tells of a greedy man who seized a peasant and tortured him “to make him ransom himself” (per farlo recatar).^[2]

Semantic evolution

For centuries the verb meant “to ransom” a prisoner or a slave, the sense of riscattare: in 1673 Paolo Segneri writes that one who buys back his life from robbers with money is said to ricattarla.^[4][10][2] It also meant “to recover, get back”, still used in Tuscany of costs (non ricattare le spese), and the reflexive ricattarsi meant “to get even”, as in Manzoni.^[11][12]

The modern sense “to blackmail” grew out of the law: the old Italian penal code used ricattare for kidnapping a person for ransom or extortion, and ricatto is recorded for extortion by threats from 1673.^[4][11] The sense “to extort something by threatening to reveal compromising facts” is in Palazzi's dictionary of 1939–1940.^[4] Ricattatore “blackmailer” is from 1865, and ricattatorio from 1934.^[4]

Timeline

• 1305 – The old form recatare is recorded.^[6]
• Before 1337 – Sicilian recattari appears in the translation of Valerius Maximus.^[3]
• 1350–1375 – Recatare “to ransom” appears in the Italian version of Guido delle Colonne.^[4]
• 1673 – Paolo Segneri uses ricattare for buying back one's life;^[4] ricatto is used for extortion.^[4]
• 1865 – Ricattatore “blackmailer” is recorded.^[4]
• 1939–1940 – Palazzi's dictionary records the sense “to blackmail”.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To blackmail: to extort money or favours from someone by threatening to reveal compromising facts or to do them harm: Un ex socio lo ricattava minacciando di parlare con i giornali.^{[6][12][13][14][1]}
2. (humorous) To ask something of someone in a way that makes it impossible to refuse: Mi ricatti sempre con i tuoi biscotti.^[6][12][13]
3. (law, historical) In the old Italian penal code, to kidnap someone for robbery or extortion.^[6][12][11]
4. (archaic) To ransom or redeem, like riscattare.^[6][12][11]
5. (regional, Tuscany) To recover, make up for a loss: Con questo raccolto non ricattiamo neppure la semina.^[6][12][11]
6. (reflexive, ricattarsi, literary) To get even, take revenge for an offence.^{[12][13][14][11]}

Word family

• ricatto
• ricattatore
• ricattatorio
• ricattabile
• ricattamento
• ricatticchiare

Related words

• riscattare
• accattare
• captare
• Latin captō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 16, 49
3. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 239
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3247
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d e f 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 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli