staccare

Forms

staccare (first-person singular present stàcco, first-person singular past historic staccài, past participle staccàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian attaccare, with the prefix s- in place of a-.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Nocentini explains that the base verb was reanalysed as a prefixed one, so that this verb and distaccare could be formed by swapping the prefix.^[3] Wiktionary takes it as a shortened form of the latter, from Middle French destacher.^[1] Treccani, Devoto and the GDLI instead derive it from tacca (“notch”) with the same privative prefix.^[7][8][9]

DELI holds that the base verb cannot itself come from this one, which is recorded much later.^[2] It derives it from Old Italian taccare (“to mark cloth with a tally”), or perhaps from Old French attachier.^[2] Nocentini traces it to the Old French verb, from estachier (“to fix to a stake”), from Frankish *stakka (“stake”).^[3][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is from Machiavelli's Legazioni of 1502, in the sense “to interrupt”; the sense “to remove what is attached” follows before 1566, in Ruscelli.^[2][4] Nocentini dates the word to 1321–1327, and DEI only to 1630.^[3][11]

Semantic evolution

The reflexive staccarsi “to come apart” appears before 1537 in Biringuccio, and the sense “to leave a person” in 1612.^[2] In music the verb came to mean playing notes short and separate (1826), and the participle staccato became an international term.^[2][11] Writing out a cheque from its stub dates from 1891.^[2]

The intransitive senses are later: “to stand out against a background” from 1873, and “to stop work” from 1916, explained in 1942 as a metaphor from unhitching the horses of a carriage.^[2] In sport the verb meant leaving the rivals behind in a race from 1961.^[2] DEI notes local senses: in the countryside around Lucca and Pisa it meant “to buy”, and at Perugia staccare la robba was to have cloth cut.^[11]

Timeline

• 1502 – Machiavelli uses staccare “to interrupt”.^[2]
• Before 1537 – Biringuccio uses staccarsi “to come apart”.^[2]
• Before 1566 – Ruscelli uses staccare “to detach”.^[2][4]
• 1612 – Staccato as a participle is recorded.^[2]
• 1826 – The musical sense and the noun staccato appear in Lichtenthal.^[2]
• 1891 – Staccare is used of writing out a cheque.^[2]
• 1916 – Staccherò alle dieci shows the sense “to stop work”.^[2]
• 1961 – La Stampa uses it for leaving rivals behind in a race.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To detach, remove or separate something fastened or joined to something else: Ha staccato il calendario dalla parete.^[4][5][6][1]
2. (transitive) To cut off with a violent blow.^[4][5]
3. (transitive) To tear a ticket, receipt or cheque from its stub: staccare un assegno.^[4][5][12]
4. (transitive) To unharness horses from a cart or carriage.^[4][1]
5. (transitive) To cut from a bolt the cloth needed for a garment.^[4][5]
6. (transitive) To disconnect or switch off: staccare la spina, staccare la corrente.^[4][13]
7. (transitive, driving) To press the clutch pedal to change gear.^[4][14][1]
8. (transitive) To move apart things that are close together; figuratively, to take one's eyes off someone: non staccare gli occhi da.^[4][13]
9. (transitive, sport) To leave rivals behind, to outdistance them.^[4][12][6]
10. (transitive) To pronounce words or syllables separately;^[4][13][12] (music) to play notes staccato.^[4][13][12]
11. (intransitive) To stand out, contrast: Il giallo stacca sul blu.^[12][6][13]
12. (intransitive, colloquial) To finish work; to take a break from work.^[12][6][1]

Word family

• staccato
• stacco
• staccabile
• staccamento
• staccatura

Related words

• attaccare
• distaccare
• tacca

Usage notes

Staccare is the opposite of attaccare.^[12][15] The reflexive staccarsi means to come off or to part from someone.^[12][13] In 1954 the word stacchino, a person who removes posters for a living, was coined as the opposite of attacchino.^[11]

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 o p q 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 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 n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 20, 24
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3612
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c d e f Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET