traccia Italian · revision 38337

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=14th century, Italian translation of Livy|origins=la trahō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈtrat.t͡ʃa/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''traccia''' ''f'' (plural tracce)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old forms are ''traga'', ''traza'' and ''trazza''.^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a deverbal noun from [[tracciare]] “to trace, mark out”.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto 1968|448)^(Wiktionary) The verb continues [[la-vul|*tractiō|alt=*tractiāre|t=to drag]], formed on [[la|tractus]], the past participle of [[m|la|trahō|t=to draw, drag]], which also gave [[trarre]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Wiktionary) In the Middle Ages the verb came to mean “to make one's way to a place”, mostly in hunting; from this it passed to “following the tracks of the hunted animal” and then to “following a line”.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The verb is western Romance: [[fr|tracer]], recorded in the 12th century, [[pro|trasar|t=to pierce]], [[es|trazar]] and [[pt|traçar]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|3848)^(REW 1935) French formed a noun [[m|fr|trace|t=track, trail]] in the same way in the 12th century.^(DEI|3848)^(REW 1935) Tommaseo connected the noun with the same Latin verb and compared [[grc|τρέχω|tr=trékhō|t=to run]].^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is in the 14th-century Italian translation of Livy, for a mark left on the ground by a body or object.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003) Tommaseo quotes from it the line ''Le tracce d'altr'uomo son nel tuo letto'' (“the traces of another man are in your bed”).^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In hunting the word named the trail of the game: Garzo writes ''Già cane per traccia / non perde caccia'' (“a dog on the trail does not lose the quarry”), and Saviozzo wrote ''seguitò la traccia'' (“he followed the trail”) in 1420.^(GDLI|21)^(DELI 1999) Before 1565 Benedetto Varchi explained that ''traccia'' was the usual word for the path a wild animal had taken.^(DELI 1999)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ The figurative senses are recorded later: “sign, clue” and “sketch that guides the drawing of a design” in 1853, and “what remains as evidence of a state or event” in 1879.^(DELI 1999) Anton Maria Salvini used the word for the outline of a written composition before 1729, though a 15th-century text already has ''traca'' for “story, invention”.^(DELI 1999) The sense of the path of an elementary particle in a cloud or bubble chamber is recorded in 1970.^(DELI 1999) The phrase ''essere sulla traccia'' was used of hounds close to their quarry and, figuratively, of following clues; the figurative sense is recorded in 1879.^(DELI 1999)^(Zingarelli 2010) In modern Italian ''traccia'' also names a track of a sound recording, a track on a computer disk, and in mathematics the sum of the diagonal elements of a square matrix.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 14th century – The Italian Livy uses ''traccia'' for a mark on the ground.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1420 – Saviozzo uses it for the trail of an animal.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1565 – Benedetto Varchi explains its use in hunting.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1729 – Anton Maria Salvini uses it for the outline of a composition.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1853 – The senses “clue” and “preliminary sketch” are recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1879 – Tommaseo records the sense “vestige” and the figurative ''essere sulla traccia''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1970 – The sense “particle track” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A mark or [[m|en|track]] left on the ground by something dragged or moving: ''Sulla sabbia c'erano le tracce di una bicicletta.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # A line or streak; a visible stain or mark: ''una traccia di fumo nel cielo''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # A [[m|en|footprint]] left by a person or animal; figuratively, an example to follow: ''seguire le tracce di qualcuno''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(hunting)'' The scent and prints that show a dog and hunter where game has passed.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A [[m|en|clue]], a lead: ''La polizia segue una nuova traccia.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # A sign or [[m|en|vestige]] that bears witness to an event, a condition or a feeling: ''Nella sua voce non c'era traccia di rabbia.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # A very small quantity of a substance: ''tracce di arsenico''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # A preliminary sketch or [[m|en|outline]]; a set of notes for a speech or essay.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(music)'' A track of a recording.^(Wiktionary)^(Wikizionario)

+ # ''(mathematics)'' The trace of a square matrix, the sum of its diagonal elements.^(Wiktionary)^(Wikizionario)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[rintracciare]]

+ * [[sottotraccia]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tracciare]]

+ * [[tracciato]]

+ * [[trarre]]

+ * [[tratto]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The GDLI and DEI record an obsolete ''traccia'' “conspiracy, intrigue”, from an old ''tracciare'' “to plot in secret”; it appears in the 14th-century chronicle of Marchionne di Coppo Stefani.^(GDLI)^(DEI|3848) The phrase ''sotto traccia'', “below the surface, covertly”, is also written ''sottotraccia''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}