saettare

Forms

saettare (first-person singular present saétto, first-person singular past historic saettài, past participle saettàto, auxiliary (transitive, also intransitive in the general sense "to shoot, to cast, etc.") avére or (intransitive in the sense "to move quickly, to dart") èssere)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian saetare, Old Italian saiettare, Old Italian saittare and Old Italian saiectare.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin sagittō (“to shoot arrows”), a verb formed from Latin sagitta (“arrow”).^{[4][5][6][7][8]} Devoto adds that the inherited verb was crossed with Italian saetta, and the TLIO and Wiktionary allow a formation from Italian saetta + -are within Italian.^[9][3][1] The Latin verb also lives on in Romanian săgeta, Aromanian sãdzitari, Spanish saetear and in Ladin dialect forms such as Ladin sité.^[10][8][1]

The origin of the Latin noun is unknown:^[4] DELI thinks it probably Etruscan, and Nocentini notes that it is taken to be a loan from an unidentified source partly because the bow and arrow were not usual Roman weapons.^[11][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Storie de Troia e de Roma, a Roman text of 1252–1258, with the sense of shooting with a missile weapon at a person or thing.^[3][4] DELI dates the sense “strike with arrows” before 1321, in Dante.^[11]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb was used of shooting arrows and of hitting, wounding or killing with them, and figuratively of the god of Love piercing a lover.^[3] It was also said of lightning striking and of the sun sending out its rays, as in Dante's Da tutte parti saettava il giorno / lo sol (“on every side the sun was shooting forth the day”).^[3][6][12] In the Decameron Boccaccio writes that no one could land se saettato esser non volea (“unless he wanted to be shot”).^[5][13]

From throwing arrows the verb came to mean throwing anything with force, and figuratively to cast a hostile look or words.^[5][12] Sports journalism uses it for a powerful shot at goal in football, recorded from 1959.^[11][12] Intransitively it means to dart along like an arrow.^[5][14][15]

Timeline

• 1252–1258 – The Storie de Troia e de Roma use the verb.^[3][4]
• 1266 – Date given by the Zingarelli.^[14]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for striking with arrows and with thunderbolts.^[11][5]
• 14th century – The derivatives saettamento, saettata and saettatore appear.^[8]
• 1959 – First recorded for a powerful shot in football.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (literary, transitive) To strike with arrows.^{[5][6][7][14]}
2. (literary) To shoot arrows.^[5][6][14]
3. (literary) To strike with thunderbolts.^[5][6]
4. To hurl or fire with force: saettare sassi.^[5][16]
5. (football) To kick the ball hard towards the goal; also intransitive: saettare in rete.^[5][14][15]
6. (figurative) To cast hostile looks or words at someone.^[5][6][12]
7. (literary) Of the sun, to send out its rays.^[5][6][14]
8. (intransitive, with essere) To dart, to move very fast.^[5][14][15]
9. (rare, also impersonal) Of lightning, to flash or strike.^[5][14][16]

Word family

• saettatore
• saettamento
• saettata
• saettio
• saettante

Related words

• saetta
• saettiera
• saettiere
• saettone
• Latin sagitta

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 17, 344
3. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3308
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 383
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli