alto

Forms

alto (feminine alta, masculine plural alti, feminine plural alte, superlative altissimo)^[1] Old and dialect forms include Pisan and Lucchese elto, Neapolitan auto and Sicilian altu.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin altus (“high; deep”).^[3][4][5][1] The same word is French haut, Occitan aut, Catalan alt, Spanish alto, Portuguese alto and Sardinian altu, and with a prefix Romanian înalt.^[4][2][6] The French /h/ comes from Frankish *hōh (“high”).^[6] The Lucchese and Pisan form with /e/ may have been crossed with erto.^[6][7]

The Latin adjective has the form of the past participle of alō (“to nourish, rear”), and most Italian dictionaries explain it as “grown, raised”.^[3][5][8] Nocentini adds Latin adolēscō (“to grow up”) and adultus (“grown”) from the same root, and the Germanic words for “old”, German alt and old.^[4] De Vaan is more cautious: the meanings are hard to connect, and Schrijver called the link unlikely, although the Germanic “old” might belong here through “grown tall”.^[9] He reconstructs Proto-Italic *alto- and compares Old Irish alt (“height, bank”) and Welsh allt (“hillside”).^[9]

Some words are calques: the phrase for high treason follows English, altoforno follows haut fourneau, and altoparlante follows loud-speaker.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record of the adjective is the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio, from the Marche, in the 12th century;^[10][3] DELI dates the poem to the early 13th century and quotes its “cantando ad alta voce” (singing aloud).^[10][3] A 12th-century Corsican document already uses the word in a place description.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian alto was used much more often figuratively than literally: eminent and noble, solemn, an attribute of God and of the lady of the love lyric, and also proud and haughty.^[10] Dante's “Quivi sospiri, pianti e alti guai” (here sighs, laments and loud wails) shows the sense “loud”.^[11][8] Pier Francesco Giambullari (before 1555) uses it for “northern”, as in alta Italia.^[3] Annibal Caro (about 1556) used alto for “tipsy”, the sense later taken by alticcio (1691).^[3]

In music, alto (1523) was the voice between the tenor and the soprano, from the Medieval Latin name of that part.^[12][2] The musical term spread across Europe: English alto is recorded in 1784, first for a man's high voice.^[12][13]

Timeline

• 12th century – The Ritmo di Sant'Alessio has alto.^[10]
• About 1274 – GRADIT's date for the word.^[5]
• 1523 – Alto is recorded as a musical voice.^[12]
• Before 1555 – Giambullari uses it for “northern”.^[3]
• About 1556 – Annibal Caro uses it for “tipsy”.^[3]
• 1691 – Alticcio is recorded.^[3]
• 1784 – English alto is recorded.^[12][13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. tall, high, above the average height: Mio fratello è più alto di me.^[5][14][1]
2. Of a given height: un muro alto due metri.^[5][14]
3. Situated high up; of a region, at a higher altitude; of a river, near its source, alta Italia, northern Italy.^[5][8]
4. deep, of water: Attento ai bambini, vicino al molo il lago è alto.^[5][8][1]
5. Thick; of cloth, wide.^[14][15]
6. Of a voice or sound, loud or high-pitched.^[8][11][1]
7. High in rank or degree, high in value: alta società, febbre alta.^[5][8]
8. Noble, lofty.^[5]
9. Of a historical period, early: alto Medioevo; of a movable feast, late.^[11]

Noun

1. The top, the upper part: in alto, up, upwards.^[16][5]

Word family

• altezza
• altezzoso
• altitudine
• altura
• alticcio
• altana
• altero
• alterigia
• altopiano
• altoparlante
• altoforno
• altolocato
• contralto

Related words

• altisonante
• alzare
• Latin altus

Usage notes

The comparative is più alto or superiore, the superlative altissimo or supremo.^[11] Essere in alto mare means “to be far from a solution”.^[11][15] A separate, now rare alto is the military order to halt, from Middle High German halt (“stop”): the TLIO first records it in Giannozzo Sacchetti in 1379, and it survives in fare alto “to halt” and altolà; it has been replaced by alt.^[10][5][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 44
8. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
13. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET