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tirare

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Pronunciation

Forms

tirare (first-person singular present tìro, first-person singular past historic tirài, past participle tiràto, auxiliary avére)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *tīrāre, a verb known only from the Romance languages, which have French tirer (12th century), Occitan tirar, Catalan tirar, Spanish tirar, Portuguese tirar and Sardinian tirare.[2][3][4][5] In spite of its spread and frequency its origin is still unknown, and DELI quotes Joan Corominas's verdict that it is one of the darkest problems of Romance etymology.[2][1] GRADIT and Gabrielli call it uncertain, and Prati unknown.[6][7][8]

The DEI, following Giovanni Alessio, starts from Medieval Latin tirare and takes it from Ancient Greek τείρω (teírō, “to rub, wear out; to distress”), a word that might have narrowed to torturing a prisoner with a rope and then, among sailors, to hauling sails; it compares tirellum, the rope torture, at Bologna in 1250.[9][2] Giulio Serra's Vulgar Latin *martyrāre (“to torment”) was rejected by Prati and Alessio.[2][4] Vittore Pisani and Harri Meier derived it from a shortened Latin trahere (“to draw, drag”) that took back a vowel on the model of girare, a view DELI finds attractive and Sabatini–Coletti adopt, but which Nocentini thinks wholly improbable.[2][10][3]

Devoto linked it to Latin tīrō (“recruit”), as a soldiers' word for joining the army.[11] Nocentini connects the noun and the verb through the idea of wearing down or toughening by exercise with terō (“to rub, wear away”), while admitting the difficulties of form, and Devoto–Oli follow him.[3][12] Zaccaria and Wiktionary prefer a Germanic source, Proto-Germanic *teraną (“to tear”), seen in Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌽 (tairan).[13][1] For Nocentini the sense “to throw, shoot” arose with the bow, where pulling the string sends off the arrow.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The reflexive tirarsi “to move, change place or condition” appears in Brunetto Latini before 1294, and GRADIT dates the verb to 1295.[2][6] The DEI's first record is the Novellino, from the late 13th century.[9] Dante uses it for pulling the ends of something tight and, figuratively, for “to attract”.[2]

Semantic evolution

The senses multiplied from “pull”: “to draw towards oneself” (1374, Petrarch), “to aim at, tend towards” (1348–1353, Boccaccio), “to suck” at the breast (before 1385), “to fire a weapon” (before 1540, Guicciardini), “to throw” (Florio, 1598), and, of the wind, “to blow” (1612).[2] The printers' sense, “to pull” copies of a sheet, follows French tirer and appears before 1698 in Francesco Redi;[2][3][14] tiratura, a print run, followed in 1805, and tiraggio, the draught of a stove, was taken from French tirage in 1853.[2][3][14] Tuscan tirare for “to be stingy” is recorded in 1863.[2]

Many compounds have the verb in the imperative: tiralinee (a ruling pen, 1805), tirapiedi, first the hangman's assistant who pulled the feet of the hanged and then a lackey, and tiramisù, the dessert, from tirami su (pick me up), recorded in 1980.[2][3] Tirare a campare, to get by without worrying, alternates with Roman tirare a campà.[2]

Timeline

  • Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses tirarsi for “to move”.[2]
  • 1295 – GRADIT's date for the verb.[6]
  • 1300–1313 – Dante uses tirare for pulling something taut.[2]
  • 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for “to aim at”.[2]
  • Before 1540 – Francesco Guicciardini uses it for firing a weapon.[2]
  • 1598 – John Florio records tirar un sasso, to throw a stone.[2]
  • Before 1698 – Francesco Redi uses it for “to print”.[2]
  • 1853 – Tiraggio (draught) is recorded, from French.[2][3]
  • 1980 – Tiramisù is first recorded.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To pull, draw towards oneself: tirare il guinzaglio.[6][12][10]
  2. To drag, tow behind oneself: Due cavalli tiravano la carrozza.[10][7][12]
  3. To stretch, pull tight: tirare la pelle del tamburo.[6][15][7]
  4. To throw: tirare palle di neve; to kick or shoot: tirare in porta; to fire (shots).[6][16][1]
  5. To draw (a line); to print (copies).[2][6]
  6. To draw in, suck; of a chimney or stove, to draw well.[10][2]
  7. (intransitive) To blow, of the wind: Oggi tira un vento freddo.[2][1]
  8. (intransitive) To tend towards: un rosso che tira al viola.[2][15]
  9. (intransitive, colloquial) To sell well, be in demand.[1][16]

Word family

  • tiro
  • tirata
  • tiratore
  • tiratura
  • tirante
  • tirapiedi
  • tiralinee
  • tiramisù
  • tiremmolla
  • tiretto
  • attirare
  • ritirare
  • stirare
  • trarre
  • tiraggio
  • French tirer
  • Spanish tirar

Usage notes

Common phrases are tirare avanti and tirare a campare (to get by), tirare fuori (to take out), tirare su (to lift, bring up), tirare in ballo (to drag in), tirare la cinghia (to tighten one's belt), tirare le orecchie (to scold) and tirare le cuoia (to die).[6][15][12][16] Una parola tira l'altra says that one word leads to another.[6]

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 r s t u v w x 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 g h i Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  5. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  8. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 994
  9. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3799
  10. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  12. ^ 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
  13. ^ Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
  14. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3800
  15. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  16. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana