squassare

Forms

squassare (first-person singular present squàsso, first-person singular past historic squassài, past participle squassàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin quassō (“to shake repeatedly; to shatter”), with the intensive prefix s- added in front.^[2][3][4][1] Battaglia's dictionary traces the prefix to Latin ex- used as an intensive.^[5] DELI and Nocentini treat it as the same word as scassare, of which it is the more conservative outcome, keeping the /kw/ of the Latin verb.^[6][2]

The Latin verb is an intensive of quatiō (“to shake”), formed on its past participle quassus.^[7][8][9] The same Latin word gave French casser, Old Occitan quassar and Catalan cassar, and, meaning “to tire”, Spanish cansar and Portuguese cansar.^[10][11] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *kwati- for the Latin verb, with a Proto-Indo-European source that is uncertain.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Esercizi padovani of the middle of the 13th century.^[12] A Medieval Latin squasare is recorded at Castelnuovo dell'Abate in 1260.^[6] Old Italian used the verb for “to break, shatter” and for “to shake something back and forth violently”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also had the senses “to sway, totter” and “to throw down”, and in farming “to bend a vine down into the ground” to layer it.^[12] A 14th-century translation of Augustine's City of God has the reflexive squassarsi for the trembling of people struck by God, and the noun squasso “violent shock” appears in the same period.^[13][14]

From the Renaissance the verb is used above all of wind, storms and earthquakes: Boiardo has an earthquake “shaking the whole fortress with a roar” (squassando con rumor tutta la rocca), and Pascoli a wind that squassa li alberi.^[5] Berni uses it of a beast that tosses iron and fire with its forehead.^[14] The modern dictionaries add a person's head shaken in disapproval, a body convulsed by coughing or sobbing, and a figurative “to torment”.^[4][3]

Compounds of the verb name things that shake: squassaforche “gallows bird” (16th century), and in the northern dialects the wagtail, as Venetian skuasakoa and Brescian squasakli, literally “shake-tail”.^[15][10] English borrowed squassation, a violent jolt, in 1731.^[16]

Timeline

• Mid-13th century – Squassare is recorded in the Esercizi padovani.^[12]
• 1260 – Medieval Latin squasare is recorded at Castelnuovo dell'Abate.^[6]
• 14th century – The reflexive squassarsi appears in a translation of Augustine's City of God.^[6][13]
• 1531 – Berni uses the noun squasso.^[15]
• Before 1535 – Francesco Berni uses squassare.^[6]
• 1731 – English squassation is first recorded.^[16]

Meanings

Verb

1. To shake violently, to make something vibrate hard, said especially of wind and storms.^[4][3][7]
2. To shake one's head hard and repeatedly, especially in disapproval or annoyance.^[4]
3. To jolt or shake a person roughly.^[4][8]
4. Of coughing, sobbing or laughter: to make the body heave convulsively.^[4][3]
5. (figurative) To torment, to wrack.^[4]
6. (reflexive, rare) squassarsi: to thrash about, to shake oneself violently.^[7][8]

Word family

• squasso
• squassamento
• squassata
• disquassare

Related words

• scassare
• sconquassare
• scuotere
• French casser
• Latin quassō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. 19, 1099
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
12. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
13. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 944
14. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3609
16. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it