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adatto

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Pronunciation

Forms

adatto (feminine adatta, masculine plural adatti, feminine plural adatte, superlative adattissimo)[1] Older forms include Old Italian adacto, adapto and addatto.[2][3] Dialect forms include Sicilian addàggiu and, at Bitonto, Neapolitan addètte.[3]

Etymology

Most dictionaries see it as borrowed from Medieval Latin adaptus (“suited”), formed from ad- and aptus (“fit, suitable”).[4][5][6][7][1] The LEI notes that the Latin adjective is recorded in Gaul in the 7th century and lives on in Old French aate (“fit”); in Italian it is a learned word.[3][8][9] Nocentini and Devoto–Oli explain it instead as the short past participle of adattare, and Devoto saw a cross of the regular participle with atto (“fit”).[10][11][12] Old Occitan adaut or azaut (“graceful, nimble”) is the same word, and the LEI regards the old Italian sense “well made, able” as a calque of the Occitan.[3][9][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Bono Giamboni's translation of Vegetius (before 1292), in the sense “having the right features for a purpose”.[2][10] DELI dates the word to Guittone d'Arezzo (before 1294), whose sonnet speaks of a villainous speech that is “shrewd and apt” (accorto e adatto).[14][3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used adatto of people: able, skilled (sometimes in a bad sense), and of looks, handsome or graceful, said especially of women.[2][4] These senses, close to the Occitan, are now obsolete.[3][7] The general sense “suitable, fit for a purpose” prevailed, with the superlative adattissimo in Boccaccio and Bencivenni, the doubled adatto adatto in Giovan Maria Cecchi (1551), and the negative disadatto from 1427.[3] Tommaseo and Rigutini distinguished atto, having some of the qualities needed, from adatto, having the qualities and the means as well.[15]

Timeline

  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses adatto.[2]
  • Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses it.[14]
  • 1427 – Disadatto is recorded.[3]
  • 1551 – Giovan Maria Cecchi uses adatto adatto “very suitable”.[3]
  • 1865 – Adattamente and adattezza appear in Tommaseo–Bellini.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. suitable, fit or right for a purpose or a person: Non è il momento adatto per chiederglielo.[4][11][7]
  2. Having an aptitude for something: Non mi sento adatto a questo lavoro.[4][11][16]
  3. (obsolete) Well built, of a body; lively, skilful, of a person.[4][7][2]

Word family

  • inadatto
  • disadatto
  • adattezza
  • adattamente

Usage notes

Adatto takes a or per, also before an infinitive: adatto ai principianti, adatto per viaggiare.[11][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 613
  4. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  7. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 55
  9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  11. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  13. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  14. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  15. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 1
  16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli