aretino

Forms

aretino (feminine aretina, masculine plural aretini, feminine plural aretine)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin Arrētīnus (“of Arezzo”), a learned form, derived from Arrētium, the Latin name of the Etruscan city of Arezzo, with the suffix -īnus.^[2][3][4][1]

The figurative sense of a shameless, foul-mouthed person comes from the name of Pietro Aretino, the biting satirical writer of the 16th century;^[2][3] French had the same use, as in Middle French aretins, in the 16th century.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Bono Giamboni's Orosio, a Florentine text from before 1292, in the sense “of the city of Arezzo”.^[5] Guittone d'Arezzo, before 1294, calls the people of Arezzo artin and mourns his dolze terra aretina “sweet Aretine land”.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the adjective for the speech of Arezzo as well, and as a noun for its people: Dante has aretini about 1313.^[5][2] Old forms include aretin, aritini, arretine and the short artino, artina.^[5] At Cortona the people of Arezzo were Aretigne at the end of the 17th century.^[2]

Mauro wrote before 1536 that Italy had poets enough che darian scaccomatto all'Aretino “who would checkmate the Aretine”, that is, outdo him in licence and spite.^[2][6] Tommaseo in 1865 recorded un Aretino for a man of shameless foulness and bold cowardice.^[7][2] Battisti and Alessio list the adjective in that sense in 1950, and Zingarelli marked it rare in 1983.^[2]

The aretina was a dance, also called ballo in terzo, and the tune that went with it, recorded by Redi before 1698.^[7][2] The sillabe aretine are the syllables Guido d'Arezzo fixed to name the musical notes.^[3][2] In archaeology vasi aretini are the red-glazed clay vessels made at Arezzo from about 25 BC to AD 25.^[8][9] In 1983 aretini also named the players of the Arezzo football team.^[2]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni's Orosio has aretino.^[5]
• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo writes artin “people of Arezzo”.^[2][6]
• About 1313 – Dante uses aretini.^[2]
• Before 1536 – Mauro's phrase dare scaccomatto all'Aretino plays on Pietro Aretino.^[2]
• Before 1698 – Redi records aretina, a dance and its tune.^[2]
• 1865 – Tommaseo records aretino for a shameless, foul-mouthed man.^[2][7]
• 1913 – Sillabe aretine for the names of the notes is recorded.^[2]
• 1950 – Aretino for the dialect of Arezzo is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of Arezzo, the Tuscan city and its province; Arretine: le colline aretine.^{[4][8][10][1]}
2. (archaeology) Vasi aretini: red-glazed terracotta vessels, sometimes with applied relief decoration, from the early Roman Empire.^[8][9]

Noun

1. A native or inhabitant of Arezzo.^{[4][8][11][1]}
2. The dialect of Arezzo and its province.^[4][11][9]
3. L'Aretino, with a capital: the territory around Arezzo.^[12][11][9]
4. L'Aretino, with a capital: by antonomasia, the 16th-century writer Pietro Aretino.^[4][13]

Related words

• Arezzo
• Latin Arretium

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 1063
3. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 282
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 c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
6. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
11. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
12. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli