-atico

Forms

-atico (adjective-forming suffix, feminine -atica, masculine plural -atici, feminine plural -atiche)^[1]

Etymology

It is most likely inherited from Latin -āticus.^[1][2][3] The Latin suffix formed adjectives (as in silvāticus), which were then often used as nouns in the neuter -āticum, as in Late Latin lignāticum.^[4] Wiktionary suggests that Classical viāticum was a forerunner of these nouns.^[1] The Oxford Latin Dictionary describes the Latin suffix as an enlargement of -cus, made on verbal bases, as in erraticus and venaticus, and on nouns, as in aquaticus and fanaticus.^[5] Wiktionary analyses it as -ātus with the suffix -icus.^[1]

The suffix was long taken to be learned, because the Latin suffix was expected to give ⟨*-acco⟩ in a popular word, with the loss of the vowel after the stress as in freddo from Latin frigidus, and because most Italian words with it are learned, like problematico.^[1] Wiktionary cites Fleischman, after E. L. Dawson, against this: Medieval Latin and Italian texts show no form in ⟨*-acco⟩ and no loss of the vowel between a dental and a velar, and there is a core of popular words such as lugliatico, from Medieval Latin iūliāticus.^[1] Sabatini–Coletti calls the suffix the native form beside the Gallicism -aggio.^[4] Wiktionary gives the latter as its doublet, from Old Occitan or Old French.^[1] The Nuovo De Mauro instead derives the suffix from the ending of words such as acquatico, and compares -tico.^[6]

Meanings

Suffix

1. Forms adjectives and nouns that express a relation with the base word or belonging to it: acquatico, companatico, stallatico.^[2][3][1]
2. In nouns formed from nouns, names a tax or tribute paid at a time of year: maggiatico.^[4]
3. In nouns formed from nouns, names a social bond or condition: comparatico.^[4][6]

Word family

• acquatico
• companatico
• stallatico
• maggiatico
• comparatico
• lugliatico

Related words

• -aggio
• -tico
• Latin -aticus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b 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 d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b De Mauro, Tullio, Il Nuovo De Mauro, online ed., dizionario.internazionale.it