balbettare

Forms

balbettare (first-person singular present balbétto, first-person singular past historic balbettài, past participle balbettàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian balbo (“stammering”) + -ettare.^[2][3][4][5] DELI calls it a Romance formation, and the TLIO and the LEI place it under balbo.^[6][3][2] Nocentini, Devoto–Oli and the Zingarelli describe it as an iterative of Late Latin balbāre (“to stammer”), which survived in Old Italian as balbare.^[7][4][5][6] GRADIT, Wiktionary and the GDLI take it from balbitāre, a form found in the glosses beside classical Latin balbūtīre.^{[8][1][9][10]} Devoto explained the ⟨tt⟩ as an expressive doubling.^[11]

The same type of formation is Old French baubeter and northern Italian betegar, and Old Italian also had balbetticare.^[12][10]

The Latin adjective balbus (“stammering”) is imitative.^[13][7][14] De Vaan traces it to a reduplicated formation in Proto-Indo-European *bl-bl-, of onomatopoeic origin and mimicking speech that cannot be understood, whose exact shape cannot be reconstructed.^[13] It has parallels in Sanskrit बल्बला (balbalā, “stammering”), Ancient Greek βαμβαλύζω (bambalúzō, “to have chattering teeth”) and Lithuanian balbėti (“to babble”), and Nocentini also compares βάρβαρος (bárbaros, “unable to speak Greek, foreign”).^[13][1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Tesoro volgarizzato of the late 13th century, in Florentine, with the sense “to speak with faltering, repeated syllables”: il cuore ch’è infiammato d’ira batte forte, mentre lo corpo trema, la lingua balbetta (“the heart inflamed with anger beats hard, while the body trembles and the tongue stammers”).^[3][9][6]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio has a woman in whom “the word never died between her teeth, nor did her tongue stammer” (né balbettava la lingua).^[9][15] In the 16th century Varchi noted that those who cannot pronounce ⟨r⟩ were said to balbotire or balbutire as in Latin, but also balbettare and sometimes balbezzare.^[9][6] The notes to the Malmantile tied the verb to small children, who repeat only the first syllables of words, “as ba ba, their first word”.^[6]

The transitive sense “to say in a broken, confused way” is dated 1650 (Peregrini), and in 1857–58 Ippolito Nievo used the verb of a sail flapping in the wind.^[6] Modern Italian also says it of a science or an art in its first uncertain stage, and of speaking a foreign language poorly.^[4][5][15]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – Balbettare appears in the Tesoro volgarizzato.^[3][6]
• 14th century – The derivatives balbeticare and balbetticare are recorded.^[10]
• 1650 – Peregrini uses the verb transitively.^[6]
• 1856 – Balbettio is first recorded.^[7]
• 1857–1858 – Ippolito Nievo uses it of a flapping sail, and balbettamento.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To stammer: to speak haltingly, repeating syllables, from a physical defect or for psychological reasons, or from fear or emotion.^[8][4][16]
2. (intransitive) Of a small child, to babble, begin to speak.^[8][4][16]
3. (intransitive, figurative) Of a science, an art or a body of thought, to be in its first uncertain stage.^[4][5][15]
4. (intransitive, nautical) Of a sail, to flap with the wind on its edge, fileggiare.^[8][4]
5. (transitive) To say something in a confused, halting way: Ha balbettato un ringraziamento ed è uscito.^[8][4][16]
6. (transitive) To speak a little of a foreign language, badly.^[8][4][15]

Word family

• balbettamento
• balbettio
• balbettone
• imbalbettarsi

Related words

• balbuziente
• balbo
• balbuzie
• balbutire
• Latin balbus
• French balbutier

Usage notes

Zingarelli distinguishes balbettare (halting speech with repeated syllables) from tartagliare, the repetition of a word's first letter or syllable.^[5] Incespicare is speech with continual stops.^[5][5] The notes to the Malmantile held that scilinguare is not the same as balbettare, which is close to tartagliare.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 4, 585
3. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 412
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ 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)
16. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse