Etymologically
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tacere

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Pronunciation

  • /taˈt͡ʃe.re/[1]

Forms

tacere (first-person singular present tàccio, first-person singular past historic tàcqui, past participle taciùto, auxiliary avére)[1] Old and dialect forms include Old Italian taciere, Old Italian tacire, Old Italian tasere, Old Italian taxere, Old Italian tagere and Old Italian tazere, and an old past historic tacetti, still heard in Tuscany.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin taceō (“to be silent”).[4][5][6][1] The same word is French taire (Old French taisir), Occitan tazer, Romansh taschair, Friulian taze, Dalmatian takar and Romanian tăcea.[5][7] Northern dialects formed a causative verb “to silence”, Venetian tazentar, with relatives in Genoese, Parmesan and Ferrarese.[7][8]

The Latin verb continues Proto-Italic *takēō.[1][9] Its closest relatives are Umbrian taçez “silent” and the Germanic verb for “to be silent, keep secret”: Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽 (þahan), Old Norse þegja and Old High German dagēn.[5][9][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *tHk-eh₁- (“to be silent”) and rejects the link with Ancient Greek πτήσσω (ptḗssō, “to cower”) that the LIV proposes.[9] DELI notes that the verb has little spread among the Indo-European languages, perhaps because it is recent, and Devoto sees clear connections only in Germanic.[4][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's earliest record is the transitive sense “to leave unsaid, pass over in silence” in the 13th-century Abate di Tivoli.[4] The GDLI quotes the 13th-century Cremonese poet Patecchio, “Mai se 'l mat omo tase, q'el no diga niente, / savio fi computando” (“if a foolish man keeps silent and says nothing, he is counted wise”), and Giacomo da Lentini, “Amore non vole ch'eo taza” (“Love does not want me to keep silent”).[2]

Semantic evolution

Dante has the senses “to fall silent” and “to stop making a sound” in the Commedia (1300–1313), as in “Tacette allora, e poi comincia' io” (“then he fell silent, and I began”).[4][11] The infinitive was used as a noun, “silence”, before 1321, in Dante's “il tacer mio” (“my silence”).[4][12] Boccaccio has “to keep secret” (1348–1353), Petrarch uses the verb for a silent landscape (1374), and Tasso for “to report nothing” (1581).[4]

Proverbs grew up around both the verb and the noun: chi tace acconsente, “silence gives consent”, and Tuscan un bel tacere non fu mai scritto, “a fine silence was never written down”.[6][13] Modern Italian extends the verb to documents and sources that say nothing on a subject, to people who give no news, and to sounds and machines that stop.[6][14]

Timeline

  • 13th century – The Abate di Tivoli uses tacere in the sense “to pass over in silence”.[4]
  • 1300–1313 – Dante uses it for falling silent and for sounds that stop.[4]
  • Before 1313 – Date of first record in GRADIT.[6]
  • Before 1321 – The infinitive is used as a noun, “silence”, by Dante.[4]
  • 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for keeping a secret.[4]
  • 1374 – Petrarch uses it of silent nature.[4]
  • 1581 – Tasso uses it for reporting nothing.[4]
  • 1935 – The compound sottacere is recorded.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (intransitive) To be silent, keep quiet: Durante la riunione ha preferito tacere.[6][3][14]
  2. (intransitive) To stop speaking, fall silent; to stop chattering: Quando entrò il preside, tutti tacquero.[6][3]
  3. (intransitive) To refrain from revealing what one knows: Se vuoi evitare guai, faresti meglio a tacere.[6][14]
  4. (intransitive) To put up with something without protest.[6][3]
  5. (intransitive) To give no news of oneself, not to answer.[6][3]
  6. (intransitive) Of a text or source, to give no information: Su questo punto le cronache tacciono.[6][14]
  7. (intransitive) Of animals, sounds or machines, to stop being heard; of a place, to lie in silence.[6][14]
  8. (transitive) To leave unsaid, omit; to keep secret: Raccontò tutto, ma tacque il nome del colpevole.[6][11][3]

Noun

  1. (literary) silence.[1][12][13]

Word family

  • sottacere
  • ritacere
  • tacente
  • tacimento

Usage notes

Mettere a tacere means “to hush up” a matter or “to silence” a person, and far tacere qualcuno in criminal slang means to kill them.[6][3][11] The verb is irregular: taccio, taci, tace, tacciamo, past historic tacqui, past participle taciuto.[1][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 20, 657
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3695
  9. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  11. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  12. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 20, 659
  13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  14. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse