uccidere Italian · revision 37696

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=end of the 13th century, Novellino|origins=la caedō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /utˈt͡ʃi.de.re/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''uccidere''' (first-person singular present uccìdo, first-person singular past historic uccìsi, past participle uccìso, auxiliary avére)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old forms include [[roa-oit|ucìdere]].^(GDLI|21, 490) Poetry of the 13th and 14th centuries also has [[roa-oit|ancidere]] “to kill, wound gravely”.^(Prati 1951|1025)^(DEI|3942)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|roa-oit|occidere]], [[inh|la|occīdō|t=to strike down, kill]], formed from [[m|la|caedō|t=to cut, fell]] with the prefix [[m|la|ob-]] of hostility.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) According to Festus, a man ⟨occisus⟩ had been killed by a blow, while one ⟨necatus⟩ had been killed without one.^(DELI 1999) The verb belonged to popular Latin, where the literary [[m|la|interficiō]] was little used: Petronius has it once against many uses of the verb that became Italian.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The diphthong of the simple verb became /iː/ in the compound, and the /o/ became /u/ before a double consonant in an unstressed syllable, as in [[ubbidire]] and [[ufficio]].^(Devoto 1968|458) The verb is also [[ro|ucide]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) [[fro|ocire]] and [[pro|aucire]] come from a variant [[la-vul|*aucīdō|alt=*aucīdere]], and Old Italian ⟨ancidere⟩ came from the Occitan verb.^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)^(Prati 1951|1025)

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+ The simple verb goes back to [[ine-pro|*kh₂eyd-|t=to cut, hew]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI's first record is in the ''Novellino'', at the end of the 13th century, both for “to kill” and for the reflexive “to kill oneself”.^(DELI 1999) GDLI quotes it: “Ettor uccidea li Greci e sostenea i Troiani e scampavali da morte” (Hector killed the Greeks and held up the Trojans and saved them from death).^(GDLI|21, 490) GRADIT and Nocentini date the word from Dante's ''Convivio'' (1304–1308).^(GRADIT 2003)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Dante uses the verb figuratively for “to destroy, abolish” in 1304–1308, and an Italian version of Pietro de' Crescenzi about 1350 for “to make perish”, also of plants.^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|3942) The noun ''uccisione'' is in the ''Novellino'', the participle ''ucciso'' in the 14th century (''anciso'' in Rustico Filippi before 1300), and ''uccisore'', a learned word from Latin ''occisor'', in Torquato Tasso in 1581.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ In modern use the verb is often hyperbolic, of heat, boredom or effort that wear a person out.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) Phrases include ''uccidere il vitello grasso'' “to kill the fatted calf”, and the proverb ''ne uccide più la gola che la spada'', gluttony kills more than the sword.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * End of the 13th century – The ''Novellino'' uses ''uccidere'' and ''uccisione''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1300 – Rustico Filippi uses the participle ''anciso''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1304–1308 – Dante uses the verb in the ''Convivio'', also figuratively.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * About 1350 – The sense “make perish” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1581 – Torquato Tasso uses ''uccisore''.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|kill]], to take the life of a person or an animal, especially by violence: ''Il cacciatore uccise un cinghiale.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # Of a cause, to bring someone to death, often slowly; used absolutely, to be deadly.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # To make plants or crops [[m|en|perish]], to destroy.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(hyperbolic)'' To exhaust, wear out, or cause great pain: ''Queste scale mi uccidono.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(figurative)'' To stifle or oppress something: a regime that kills freedom.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(reflexive, uccidersi)'' To kill oneself; to kill one another; to die in an accident.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[uccisione]]

+ * [[ucciso]]

+ * [[uccisore]]

+ * [[ucciditore]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|occido]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}