Etymologically
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adulto

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Pronunciation

Forms

adulto (feminine adulta, masculine plural adulti, feminine plural adulte)[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin adultus (“grown up, fully grown”), the past participle of adolēscō (“to grow up”).[2][3][4][5] The Latin verb is an inchoative formed with ad- on alō (“to nourish”), the verb that also gave Latin altus and so Italian alto;[3][6][1] Devoto compares German alt (“old”).[6] Wiktionary takes the root back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-.[1]

The LEI lists only learned continuations of the Latin participle in Romance: Romanian adult, Old Occitan adulto (about 1140), French adulte, Catalan adult (13th century), Spanish adulto (1463) and the Italian word.[7][3] DEI calls it an international word.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Sienese statute of 1309–1310, where the noun means someone who is no longer a minor and can act at law.[8][9] DELI and the LEI date the word to Dante (before 1321), with the sense of a person in full physical and mental maturity.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used adulto of human beings who had grown up, and as a noun for a grown man.[8] The use for animals and plants that have reached full growth is recorded from Federico Frezzi's Quadriregio (1416), and the adjective used as a noun from Giovanni Rucellai (1525).[7] Derivatives were few and late: adultivo “able to grow” in the 14th-century translation of Crescenzi, inadulto “not yet grown up” in Silvio Pellico (1821) and adultità “adulthood” in Alberto Savinio (before 1952).[7]

The word long kept a learned tone: Petrocchi's dictionary of 1891 marked it as not popular.[7] In the modern language it is a word of high frequency, with a figurative sense “mature, fully developed” said of a style or a society, and per adulti marks films and publications not meant for children.[5][9]

Timeline

  • 1309–1310 – A Sienese statute uses adulto for a person no longer under age.[8]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses the word.[2][7]
  • 14th century – Adultivo appears in the Italian translation of Crescenzi.[7]
  • 1416 – Frezzi applies adulto to growth in general.[7]
  • 1525 – Rucellai uses adulto as a noun.[7]
  • 1821 – Pellico has inadulto.[7]
  • Before 1952 – Savinio coins adultità.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Fully grown, having reached complete physical and mental maturity: Ha due figli ormai adulti.[5][9][10]
  2. (biology) Of an animal or plant, fully developed and able to reproduce.[5][9][11]
  3. Typical of or suited to a grown person: una scelta adulta.[5][9]
  4. (figurative) mature, advanced, fully developed: una democrazia adulta.[5][9][11]

Noun

  1. An adult, a grown-up person: Il biglietto per gli adulti costa dieci euro.[5][9][12]
  2. Per adulti: for adults only, of a film, show or publication not suitable for children.[9]

Word family

  • adultità
  • inadulto
  • subadulto
  • adultismo

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 66
  5. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 862
  8. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  10. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli