scartare

scartare¹ to unwrap

Pronunciation

• /skarˈta.re/^[1]

Forms

scartare (first-person singular present scàrto, first-person singular past historic scartài, past participle scartàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “to unwrap” is formed from Italian s- + carta + -are, with s- in the sense of removal: it means taking a thing out of the paper it is wrapped in.^[2][3][4][1] Treccani explains it instead as incartare (“to wrap in paper”) with its prefix in- replaced by s-.^[5]

The base noun, “paper”, is from Latin charta, from Ancient Greek χάρτης (khártēs, “sheet of papyrus”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record of the sense “to take an object out of the paper wrapped round it” is from 1891.^[2][6] Nocentini, Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti date the word to the 18th century.^[3][4][7]

Timeline

• 18th century – The date Nocentini, Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti give for the first record.^[3][4][7]
• 1891 – DELI's first dated record of the sense “to unwrap”.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To unwrap: to take something out of its paper: scartare un pacchetto, scartare i cioccolatini.^[8][4][7][6]

scartare² to discard; to reject

Pronunciation

• /skarˈta.re/^[1]

Forms

scartare (first-person singular present scàrto, first-person singular past historic scartài, past participle scartàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “to discard” is a parasynthetic formation from Italian s- + carta + -are, made on carta in the sense “playing card”, with s- in the sense of taking away.^[2][8][5][1] The first meaning was getting rid of the cards one has in excess or does not want.^[2][9]

Meyer-Lübke held that this Italian verb was borrowed as French écarter (“to put cards aside”).^[9] Körting thought that French origin from the card was possible, but left room for a derivation from the Latin word for “quarter”.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first records are Paolo Giovio, before 1552, for “to set aside as not good or not fit”, and Pietro Aretino, before 1556, for discarding playing cards.^[2][8] Aretino warns against those who discard one card for another and so cheat, calling such a player a good rogue rather than a fine gambler.^[11]

Semantic evolution

From cards the verb passed to anything rejected after a choice.^[2][8] Davanzati's version of Tacitus has così fu scartata la sentenza di Cecina, “so the proposal of Caecina was set aside”.^[12] In the military the verb came to mean declaring a young man unfit at the medical examination for conscription.^[8][5]

The noun scarto followed: the discarding of cards (1640, Oudin), what is discarded (1805), and a person not fit for military service or for a post (1875).^[2] Scartina, a card of little value, is from 1959, and in 1956 a sports paper used it for a weak athlete.^[2] German borrowed the verb as skartieren in the 17th century, for setting aside old papers.^[13]

Timeline

• Before 1552 – Paolo Giovio uses scartare for “to reject”.^[2]
• Before 1556 – Pietro Aretino uses it for discarding cards.^[2][8]
• 1640 – Scarto for the discarding of cards, in Oudin.^[2]
• 17th century – German skartieren is recorded.^[13]
• 1875 – Scarto is used for a man unfit for military service.^[2]
• 1959 – Scartina “card of little value” is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (card games) To discard a card from one's hand, laying it on the table or exchanging it: scartare alto, scartare basso, to discard high or low cards.^[8][4][6]
2. To throw away or put aside as useless after examining: scartare le mele marce.^[8][7]
3. To reject or rule out an idea, a plan or a hypothesis: scartare un'ipotesi.^[8][4][6]
4. To exclude someone from a group as unfit, especially at the medical examination for conscription: il ragazzo venne scartato alla leva.^[8][4][5]

Word family

• scarto
• scartina
• scartabile
• scartatore

scartare³ to swerve

Pronunciation

• /skarˈta.re/^[1]

Forms

scartare (first-person singular present scàrto, first-person singular past historic scartài, past participle scartàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “to swerve” is borrowed from French s'écarter (“to move away”), which in the 16th century meant moving away from a house or from the direction one was following.^[2][3][8][4] The French verb comes from Vulgar Latin *exquartāre, properly “to divide into four parts”, hence “to separate”, which is also the source of squartare (“to quarter”).^[2][3][7] GRADIT and Devoto–Oli call the Latin verb Late Latin, and DEI derives it from Latin quartus (“fourth”) and compares Old Occitan escartar (“to spread out”).^[14][8][4] French also had the noun French écart in this sense from the 16th century.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first Italian record is a censure of 1855: Ugolini called scartarsi “to move away” a barbarism, though a respected modern author had written that Dante never strayed from the faith (Dante non mai scartatosi dalla fede).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In 1922 the Zingarelli dictionary defined the verb as turning sharply aside from one's path, of a horse, a car or a bicycle.^[2] The football sense, getting past an opponent while keeping the ball, is recorded in 1970.^[2] Twentieth-century writers also used it transitively for pushing something aside: Fenoglio has a woman who si scartò dalla fronte i capelli, “pushed the hair off her forehead”.^[11]

The noun scartata, a sudden swerve, is in De Amicis, who died in 1908, and Giusti already wrote in 1840 that “in our early years we have all made some scartate”.^[2] Scartamento, the distance between the rails, is recorded in 1895, and Nocentini takes it from French écartement.^[2][3] In 1897 Barucchi condemned the figurative a scartamento ridotto “on a reduced scale” as railway jargon.^[2]

Timeline

• 16th century – French s'écarter “to move away” is recorded.^[2]
• 1840 – Giusti uses scartata for a youthful escapade.^[2]
• 1855 – Ugolini criticises scartarsi “to move away”.^[2][3]
• 1895 – Scartamento and scartamento ridotto are recorded.^[2]
• 1922 – The Zingarelli dictionary defines the sense “to swerve”.^[2]
• 1970 – The football sense is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To swerve: to make a sudden sideways movement, of a horse or a vehicle: il mulo scartò davanti al cane.^[8][4][7]
2. (cycling) To move suddenly to one side in a sprint, to hinder a rival or to pass more easily.^[8][4]
3. (transitive) To dodge someone or something, passing close by without touching it.^[8][11]
4. (transitive, sports) In football, rugby, basketball and similar games, to get past an opponent while keeping the ball, to dribble.^[8][4][7]
5. (transitive, literary) To push aside: scartare le tende.^[11]

Word family

• scartata
• scartamento