autore

Forms

autore m (plural autori, feminine autrice)^[1] Forms include Old Italian autor, Old Italian auttore, Old Italian auctore and Old Italian altore.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin auctor (“promoter, founder, author”).^{[4][5][6][7][1]} The Latin noun is formed augeō (“to increase”) + -tor, so that it first meant “one who makes something grow”, a promoter.^{[4][5][8][9][1]} The sense “increaser” is rare in Latin texts.^[9]

The word was taken from Latin in the same learned way across Romance: Old French auctur (1174), French auteur, Old Occitan autor (1165), Catalan autor, Spanish autor (1155) and Portuguese autor.^[10][5] A half-popular development to altore is separate: the ⟨l⟩ there may be a hypercorrection of the educated, as Rohlfs suggests.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Brunetto Latini's Rettorica (Florence, about 1260–61), where an autore is someone who creates a religious, scientific or literary work that serves as a model.^[2] DELI dates the sense “creator of a literary or artistic work” from Brunetto Latini (before 1292).^[4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the word for anyone who causes or begins something, a maker or promoter, and for God as the creator; in law an autore was one who passes on a right.^[2] DELI dates the sense “one who gives rise to something” from the Ottimo commentary on Dante (14th century).^[4] The commentators of Dante also called the poet himself l’autore.^[2]

The feminine autrice is recorded from 1664.^[5] Today the word covers writers, painters, composers and film-makers, and d’autore marks work of recognized quality (film d’autore).^[6][7] Il Sommo Autore is God.^[7]

Timeline

• 1155 – Spanish autor is recorded.^[10]
• 1260–1261 – Brunetto Latini uses autore in the Rettorica.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Brunetto Latini uses it for the creator of a work.^[4]
• 14th century – The Ottimo commentary uses it for “one who gives rise to something”.^[4]
• 1525 – Bembo writes auttori.^[10]
• 1664 – The feminine autrice is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The person who causes or originates something; the perpetrator of a deed: Non si sa ancora chi sia l’autore della rapina.^[6][8][1]
2. The author of a work: one who writes a text, paints a picture, composes music or makes a film.^[6][7][8]
3. (law) The party from whom a right derives.^[6][8]

Word family

• autrice
• coautore
• autorevole
• autorevolezza
• autorità
• autorizzare
• esautorare
• autoriale

Related words

• aumentare
• Latin auctor
• French auteur

Usage notes

Diritti d’autore are copyright and royalties;^[6][7] d’autore as an adjective phrase means “of recognized quality”.^[6][7] The feminine is autrice.^[1][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
4. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 2235