segare

Forms

segare (first-person singular present ségo, first-person singular past historic segài, past participle segàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin secāre (“to cut”).^[2][3][4][1] DELI and the GDLI think it reached the standard language through the northern dialects, and Devoto and Sabatini–Coletti point to the northern voicing of /k/ to /ɡ/ between vowels.^[2][5][6][7] Wiktionary sees an older inherited secare merged with the later learned borrowing secare, its doublet.^[1] The noun sega (“saw”) is formed from the verb with no suffix.^[2]

The verb is shared by the Romance languages: French scier, Occitan segar, Catalan segar, Spanish segar and Portuguese segar.^[3][8] Sardinian has segare (“to cut to pieces”).^[8] Meyer-Lübke linked the sense of reaping to the toothed sickle, and so did the DEI.^[8][9]

The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Italic *sekaje/o- and Proto-Indo-European *sekh₁- (“to cut off”).^[10] Nocentini compares Lithuanian į-sèkti (“to incise”), and the Germanic words for a saw: Old High German saga, German Säge and the English word saw.^[3] The same root gave Old Norse sax (“dagger”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Bono Giamboni, who died before 1292, in the sense “to divide into two or more pieces with a saw”.^[2] The DEI dates it to the 13th-century Novellino, where two knights saw off their third of a bench.^[9][5] The sense “to mow hay” is recorded at Bassano in 1259.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Dante used the verb for “to cut”, as in cutting a throat, and for a prow that “cuts” the water.^[2][4][11] In the 14th century it also meant “to reap” and “to mow”, in Boccaccio, Crescenzi and the Palladio translation.^[9] In the sense “to mow hay” the verb is mainly northern, but it reaches the Garfagnana and the Mugello in Tuscany.^[9] Across most of northern Italy (not in Veneto or eastern Emilia) the dialects say resegare, and the South and Sardinia use a reflex of Latin serrāre.^[9] In geometry it meant “to intersect” from the 17th century.^[9]

From 1550 the verb was also used of a cord pressing so hard that it cuts into the skin.^[2] Modern colloquial senses are “to fail” a student, “to skip” school, and in football “to bring down” an opponent.^[4][12][13] Joking speech calls bad violin playing segare il violino.^[13][14] The noun sega has also meant “masturbation” since 1863.^[2]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses segare “to saw”.^[2][4]
• 1300–1321 – Dante uses it for “to cut”.^[2]
• 1306 – Medieval Latin seca “saw” is recorded at Ragusa.^[2]
• 1340 – Segatura “sawing” appears in the Palladio translation.^[2]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses sega.^[2]
• 1550 – Cosimo Bartoli uses segare of a cord cutting into the skin.^[2]
• 1707 – Segantino “sawyer” is recorded.^[2][3]
• 1886 – Segheria “sawmill” is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To saw, cut with a saw: Ho segato il ramo secco del melo.^[4][12][1]
2. (transitive) To cut, sever: segare la gola.^[4][12]
3. (transitive, hyperbolic) To press so tightly as to cut into the skin.^[4][12][7]
4. (regional, Tuscany) To reap, mow.^[12][13][7]
5. (figurative, colloquial) To flunk a student.^[4][13][1]
6. (colloquial, central Italy) To skip (school).^[4][13]
7. (football slang) To bring down an opponent with a tackle on the legs.^[12]
8. (figurative) To play a bowed instrument badly: segare il violino.^[4][13]
9. (obsolete) To intersect.^[4][7][13]
10. (intransitive, vulgar) To masturbate.^[1]

Word family

• sega
• segatura
• segantino
• segatrice
• segheria
• segaossa
• seghetto
• seghetta
• seghettare
• segone
• risegare
• risega
• segatore
• segamento

Related words

• secare
• secante
• intersecare
• Latin secō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 d e f 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 18, 451
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d e f g Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3441
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ 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 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 d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana