aggetto

Forms

aggetto m (plural aggetti)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin adiectum (“something added”), the neuter past participle of adiciō (“to add”), used as a noun.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Latin verb is formed from ad- (“to, beside”) and iaciō (“to throw”), the verb behind gettare.^[2][3][6][1] DEI instead derives the noun from the verb aggettare, but DELI and the LEI record that verb only from 1681.^[7][2][8]

The LEI files the word with the inherited words and names Old French agiet as its French counterpart.^[8] Middle French had the plural agiz for the parts of a house.^[8] Meyer-Lübke also lists Bolognese azet “projection, corbel” and Galician ageitos “the space outside the walls”.^[9] An isolated Old Italian aietto of old Venice meant “nickname”.^[8] The learned adietto “added; deputy collector” is an 18th-century Latinism of the same Latin word.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Leon Battista Alberti, before 1452, in the form agetto and then aggetto, for a part of a building or wall that juts out.^[2][8][11] Alberti explains the word on the column: the aggetti are two, one at the top and one at the foot, chiamati aggetti, perchè si gettano più in fuori che il resto della colonna (“called projections because they throw themselves further out than the rest of the column”).^[12]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word belonged to architecture: Vasari measures the projection of Michelangelo's cornices in palms, and Tommaseo defines it as anything that juts out from the plumb line of a wall, such as cornices and bosses.^[12] The verb aggettare “to project” followed in 1681, in Baldinucci, with the adjective aggettato.^[2][8]

Later the word was applied to mountains, for a rocky overhang, and to biplanes, for the difference between the spans of the upper and lower wings.^[8][11][13] Dialects have kept it too: Neapolitan agghiettete also means “savings”, and in Catania vaddari cc’aggettu means to look at something closely and with interest.^[8]

Timeline

• Before 1452 – Leon Battista Alberti uses agetto and aggetto for a projecting part of a building.^[2][8]
• 16th century – DEI dates aggetto to this century, and Prati cites it from Vasari.^[7][14]
• 1681 – Baldinucci records the verb aggettare.^[2][8]
• 1961 – The GDLI records the sense “rocky overhang” in mountaineering.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (architecture) A projection: a part or element of a building, such as a cornice, balcony or corbel, that juts out from the face of the wall: Il cornicione ha un aggetto di quasi un metro.^{[11][15][16][6][5]}
2. (mountaineering) A rocky overhang on a rock face.^{[11][15][16][6][13]}
3. (aeronautics) In a biplane, the difference between the span of the upper wing and that of the lower wing.^[11][13]

Word family

• aggettare
• aggettante

Related words

• gettare
• getto
• adietto
• Latin adiciō

Usage notes

Fare aggetto means to project, to jut out.^[11][6][17] A separate obsolete adjective aggetto “vile, abject”, a semi-learned form of Latin abiectus, is found only in the 15th century.^[7][12] The GDLI also records an old adjective aggetto “placed before, exposed to view”, compared with obietto.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 84
8. ^ 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, 681
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 682
11. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 28
15. ^ 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
16. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
18. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 11, 847