picchiare Italian · revision 38781

+ Italian has two verbs spelled ''picchiare'': the old verb “to beat, knock”, and the aviation verb “to dive”, an adaptation of French ''piquer''.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Nocentini 2010) DELI, GRADIT and Nocentini number them in this order.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Nocentini 2010)

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+ {{homograph|1|beat, knock}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=before 1292}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /pikˈkja.re/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''picchiare''' (first-person singular present pìcchio, first-person singular past historic picchiài, past participle picchiàto, auxiliary avére)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The verb meaning “to beat” is [[inh|la-vul|*picculō|alt=*pic(c)ulāre|t=to tap repeatedly]], according to Nocentini, Devoto–Oli and Devoto: a diminutive or iterative of [[m|la-vul|*piccō|alt=*pīccāre|t=to strike with a point]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Devoto 1968) In Nocentini's view the diminutive took over the main sense “to strike” from its base, as diminutives often do, and new diminutives such as [[picchiettare]] were then formed in its place.^(Nocentini 2010) The base survives in [[piccare]] and in [[fr|piquer]], [[oc|picar]], [[es|picar]] and [[pt|picar]]; its origin is unknown.^(REW 1935)^(Nocentini 2010)

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+ DELI sees the verb as imitative of the sound of a blow, like [[picca]], rather than as a derivative of [[picchio|t=woodpecker]], as DEI and Prati proposed with an allusion to the bird's pecking;^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|2900)^(GDLI) Wiktionary, GRADIT, Sabatini–Coletti and Treccani also call it imitative.^(Wiktionary)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Zingarelli dates the verb to before 1292, and DEI finds it in Francesco da Barberino in the 14th century.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(DEI|2900) DELI's first record is in Boccaccio's ''Decameron'' (1353), “to strike or beat repeatedly”, where visitors knock at a door: “Picchiando l'uscio, a lei che già rispondeva, dissero …”, knocking at the door, they said to her, who was already answering.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Knocking at doors gave ''picchiata'', a knock (Bernardino of Siena, 1427), ''picchio'', a knock (Pulci, 1483), and ''picchiotto'', a door knocker (1846).^(DELI 1999) The sense “to beat a person, thrash” is recorded in the third Crusca dictionary (1681).^(DELI 1999) Modern Italian also says that the sun ''picchia'', beats down, and of a petrol engine that it ''picchia in testa'', knocks.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

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+ The adjective ''picchiatello'', “a bit crazy”, was coined in 1936–1937 by Tullo Gramantieri, the translator of the film ''Mr Deeds Goes to Town'', for the American ''pixilated''; it rests on the older ''essere picchiato'', to have taken a knock on the head.^(DELI 1999) ''Picchiatore'', one who beats, became the name of a hard-hitting boxer in 1958.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Before 1292 – Date given by Zingarelli.^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ * 1353 – Boccaccio uses ''picchiare'' for knocking at a door.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1427 – ''Picchiata'' “knock” is recorded in Bernardino of Siena.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1483 – Pulci uses ''picchio'' for a knock.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1681 – The third Crusca dictionary records “to thrash”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1846 – ''Picchiotto'' “door knocker” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1936–1937 – Tullo Gramantieri coins ''picchiatello''.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|beat]], hit, thrash someone: ''Due ragazzi hanno picchiato un passante.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # To strike, bang something or a part of the body on something: ''Ha picchiato il pugno sul banco.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # To [[m|en|bump]] accidentally: ''Ho picchiato il ginocchio contro la sedia.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(intransitive)'' To [[m|en|knock]], beat: ''Qualcuno picchia alla finestra''; of rain, to beat down; of the sun, to be scorching.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(figurative)'' To insist, keep on at something.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(mechanics)'' ''picchiare in testa'', of an engine, to knock.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(reciprocal, picchiarsi)'' To come to blows, fight.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[picchiato]]

+ * [[picchiatore]]

+ * [[picchiatello]]

+ * [[picchiettare]]

+ * [[picchiettio]]

+ * [[picchiettatura]]

+ * [[picchierellare]]

+ * [[picchiotto]]

+ * [[ripicchiare]]

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+ {{homograph|2|dive}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1918, Panzini's dictionary}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /pikˈkja.re/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''picchiare''' (first-person singular present pìcchio; auxiliary avére; compound tenses not in use)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The aviation verb is [[bor|fr|piquer]], adapted to the form of the existing Italian verb.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(DEI|2900) The French verb is recorded from 1866 for any sudden movement downward, vertical or nearly so, and in the French dictionaries for aircraft only from 1937; but Panzini's dictionary already records [[fr|vol piqué]] in 1918, explained as the dart-like flight of planes coming down steeply at high speed.^(DELI 1999) Nocentini describes the sense as coming down “point first”, applied to flight during the First World War.^(Nocentini 2010)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is in the 1918 edition of Alfredo Panzini's ''Dizionario moderno'', for an aircraft lowering its nose and changing attitude and course.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Marinetti defined it as putting the machine in a position of descent, and the noun ''picchiata'', a dive, is recorded in his writing in 1929.^(GDLI)^(DELI 1999) By comparison Corrado Alvaro used it for a ship pitching forward at the bow.^(GDLI) Its opposite is ''cabrare'', to climb nose up.^(Zingarelli 2010)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1866 – French ''piquer'' is recorded for a sudden downward movement.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1918 – Panzini's dictionary records ''picchiare'' and ''vol piqué''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1929 – Marinetti uses ''picchiata'' “dive”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1937 – The aviation sense of ''piquer'' enters the French dictionaries.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(aviation)'' Of an aircraft, to [[m|en|dive]], come down steeply nose first: ''Il bombardiere picchiò sull'obiettivo.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(by extension)'' Of a ship, to pitch forward at the bow.^(GDLI)

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+ ==Word family==

+ * [[picchiata]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[picca]]

+ * [[piccare]]

+ * [[picchio]]

+ * [[fr|piquer]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ DEI also lists dialect verbs ''picchiare'' “to chirp” and, in the Marche, “to delay”, the latter from Latin ''plicare''.^(DEI|2900)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}