tramettere

Forms

tramettere (first-person singular present tramétto, first-person singular past historic tramìsi, past participle tramésso, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian tra- + mettere, “to put between”.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} Meyer-Lübke calls it a new formation of Italian, separate from the Old Italian verb that continues Latin trāmittō (“to send across”).^[8] Wiktionary allows a Latin source too but finds the Italian formation more likely.^[1] DEI compares French entremettre, recorded from the 12th century, and Sicilian tramìttula of Sicily.^[9]

The Latin verb is a variant of trānsmittō, from mittō (“to send”), which is also the source of mettere.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DEI finds the reflexive tramettersi first, in the 14th-century chronicle of G. Villani, and later in M. Villani in the sense “to meddle”.^[9] Devoto–Oli also dates the verb to the 14th century.^[3] The transitive sense “to put one thing among others” is first recorded in Varchi, before 1565.^[9][2]

Semantic evolution

Varchi's Ercolano speaks of placing poetic rhythms, that is verses, among the rhythms of prose, which it calls a fault.^[10] The verb also meant “to leave aside, omit”, a sense the modern dictionaries mark as archaic.^[3][5][6]

The reflexive took the senses “to act as a go-between” and “to meddle in other people's affairs”, and in older use “to concern oneself with something”.^[3][6] Devoto–Oli illustrates that last sense with a line of Dante: non mi trametto di narrare la sentenzia de le parti (I do not undertake to tell the opinion of the parties).^[3][6]

Today the verb is uncommon, and the usual word for “to interpose” is frammettere.^[2][6][10]

Timeline

• 14th century – G. Villani uses the reflexive tramettersi.^[9]
• 14th century – M. Villani uses tramettersi for “to meddle”.^[9]
• Before 1565 – Varchi uses the transitive verb for “to put among other things”.^[9][2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (uncommon, transitive) To interpose, to put something between or among other things, the same as frammettere.^{[2][3][11][1]}
2. (archaic, transitive) To leave aside, omit.^[3][5][11]
3. (uncommon, reflexive) tramettersi: to act as an intermediary, to meddle: si tramette sempre nelle liti dei vicini.^{[3][4][11][7]}
4. (archaic, reflexive) tramettersi: to concern oneself with something.^[3][6]

Word family

• tramessione
• tramettersi

Related words

• mettere
• trasmettere
• frammettere
• intromettere
• Latin trāmittō

Usage notes

GRADIT lists a second, obsolete verb tramettere, recorded from about 1250, a learned borrowing of Latin tramittere, a variant of transmittere, with the senses “to transmit” and “to set aside, neglect”.^[2] DEI dates it to the 13th century in the Novellino (to send) and the Storia di Barlaam (to send for), and in Bembo (16th century) as “to omit”.^[9] Meyer-Lübke puts Old Italian tramettere “to send for” beside Romanian trimite, Occitan trametre and Catalan trametre, all from the Latin verb.^[8] The Novellino tells of a man who asked a friend to send him arms and a horse in secret for a tournament (che 'l dì del torneamento li trammettesse arme e cavallo).^[10]

The verb is conjugated like mettere.^[3][4][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
7. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
8. ^ a b 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. 3858
10. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana