saltare

Forms

saltare (first-person singular present sàlto, first-person singular past historic saltài, past participle saltàto, auxiliary (intransitively in the literal meaning "to jump to/from somewhere in a single movement", or in most figurative intransitive meanings) èssere or (transitively, or intransitively in the literal meaning "to jump (in general, or in several movements)") avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin saltō (“to dance; to leap”), the intensive or frequentative of saliō (“to jump”).^[2][3][4][1] In Italian “saltare” took over the meaning of “saliō”, while salire came to mean “to go up”.^[5] The cooking sense “to sauté” is a calque of French sauter, used in this way from 1767.^[2][6][7]

Nocentini calls the verb panromance: French sauter, Occitan sautar, Catalan saltar, Spanish saltar, Portuguese saltar, Romanian sălta and Vegliote satuar.^[3][8] Meyer-Lübke separates the sense “to dance”, kept in Engadine soter and Old Spanish sotar, whence the dance jota, from “to jump”, which is the meaning nearly everywhere.^[8]

The Latin “saliō” is of uncertain origin; the LIV compares Ancient Greek ἅλλομαι (hállomai, “to leap”) and reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *sel-, but the vowel of the Latin verb does not fit easily.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Brunetto Latini, before 1294, in the sense “to spring up from the ground and come down again”.^[2][4] His Tesoro describes the dolphin as a fish that leaps out of the water, some even onto ships.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Several senses are early: “to burst out, spurt” about 1350 in the translation of Crescenzi, “to mount, jump onto” in Boccaccio (1348–1353), and the figurative “to pass from one point to another unconnected one” in Dante.^[2] Like Latin “saltō”, the verb also meant “to dance”, a sense now literary.^[4][10] The transitive “to jump over” is in Machiavelli, before 1527, and “to leave out, skip” in Varchi, before 1565.^[2]

Modern Italian uses saltare for things that break, burst or fail: a fuse blows, a button comes off, a government falls, a plan is called off.^[4][7][1] Kitchen Italian has saltare “to sauté” from 1905, and patate saltate from 1922.^[2] Compounds and derivatives record games and trades: saltimbanco “acrobat” (from saltare in banco, before 1566), saltimbocca (1855), the Roman dish that “jumps into the mouth”, and saltarello, a lively dance of the 15th century.^[2][3]

Timeline

• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses saltare.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it of passing from one subject to another.^[2]
• 1336 – Salto “a jump” in Boccaccio.^[2]
• Before 1527 – Transitive “to jump over” in Machiavelli.^[2]
• Before 1565 – “To leave out” in Varchi.^[2]
• 1767 – French sauter in the cooking sense.^[2]
• 1905 – The cooking sense in Italian, in Panzini's dictionary.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To jump, leap off the ground: I bambini saltavano sul letto.^[4][6][7][1]
2. (intransitive) To jump into, onto or down from something: saltare nel fiume, saltare sull'autobus.^[4][11][1]
3. (sport) To perform a jump: saltare in alto, in lungo, con l'asta.^[6][7]
4. (intransitive) Of a thing, to come off, pop off, fly out: Mi è saltato via un bottone.^[4][12][1]
5. (intransitive) To explode, blow up; of a device, to stop working: Sono saltate le luci in tutto il palazzo.^[4][7][1]
6. (intransitive, figurative) Of a person, to be removed from a post; of a plan or event, to be cancelled: Per lo sciopero è saltata la riunione.^[4][7][1]
7. (literary) To dance.^[4][1]
8. (transitive) To jump over, clear: saltare un ruscello.^[4][6][1]
9. (transitive, figurative) To skip, leave out: saltare un capitolo, saltare la colazione.^[4][13][1]
10. (cooking) To sauté: Ho saltato i funghi in padella con l'aglio.^[6][13][1]

Word family

• salto
• saltello
• saltellare
• saltarello
• salterello
• saltatore
• saltimbanco
• saltimbocca
• saltimpalo
• risaltare
• risalto
• soprassalto
• saltuario

Related words

• salire
• sussultare
• Latin saltō
• French sauter

Usage notes

Saltare takes avere for the act of jumping itself and when transitive (ho saltato due metri), and essere for a jump to or from a place and in most figurative senses (è saltato giù dal letto, è saltata la luce).^[12][1] Common phrases include saltare fuori “to turn up”, saltare in mente “to occur to someone”, saltare agli occhi “to be obvious” and saltare di palo in frasca “to jump from one subject to another”.^[4][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
11. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org