loto

Forms

loto m (plural lotos)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian lotto, the name of a game of chance, often run by the state, in which bets are placed on numbers from 1 to 90 (recorded in Italian from 1673).^[2][3][4] The Italian word meant “lot, fate” and had been taken from lot;^[4][5][6] it first named an extraordinary tax set up in Florence in 1530, which was collected by means of a compulsory game of chance.^[2][3] French “lot” itself goes back to Frankish *lot.^[1] Bloch and Wartburg date the French word to 1732, the TLFi and the DHLF to 1782.^[6][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1782 in Mme de Genlis's Adèle et Théodore, where the game is listed among the fashionable pastimes of the day, beside walking, fishing and reading.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word named the parlour game played with numbered cards and numbered pieces drawn from a bag, and by 1835 also the set of objects used to play it.^[4][3] The small wooden cylinders of the game, boules de loto (1833), gave the familiar phrase yeux en boules de loto “round, staring eyes” (1893), already used figuratively by Murger in 1851.^[3][2][4]

As the parlour game fell out of fashion, the name was revived in 1976 for a public lottery in which numbers are drawn at random; its success led to a similar game based on sports results, the loto sportif.^[3][7]

English lotto is recorded from 1778, from the French word and directly from Italian.^[8]

Timeline

• 1673 – Italian lotto is recorded for the numbers game.^[2][3]
• 1732 – Bloch and Wartburg's date for the French word.^[6]
• 1778 – English lotto is recorded.^[8]
• 1782 – Mme de Genlis mentions the game in Adèle et Théodore.^[2][3]
• 1786 – Mme de Staël uses the word in her early letters.^[2]
• 1833 – The wooden pieces of the game are named.^[3]
• 1835 – The Académie records the sense “the set of objects for the game”.^[4]
• 1851 – Murger uses yeux en boule de loto figuratively.^[2]
• 1976 – The name is given to the French public lottery.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A game of chance in which players cover the numbers on their cards as numbered pieces are drawn at random from a bag, the first to fill a card winning; lotto, bingo.^[5][7][2]
2. The set of cards and pieces used to play this game.^[5][4][9]
3. (familiar) Des yeux en boules de loto: round, staring eyes.^[7][5]
4. In France, a registered name for a public lottery in which players tick numbers on a slip and the winning numbers are drawn: il a gagné au loto.^[7][5][3]

Related words

• lot
• loterie
• Italian lotto

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette