barattare

Forms

barattare (first-person singular present baràtto, first-person singular past historic barattài, past participle barattàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old Italian also wrote baratare with a single t, as in the accounts of a merchant from Prato at Avignon in 1384.^[2] A prefixed abbarattare is found in older texts.^[3]

Etymology

The origin is very uncertain, and the dictionaries follow different explanations.^[2][4][5] Devoto–Oli, the DEI, the TLIO and the Zingarelli take it as borrowed from Old Occitan baratar, a derivative of barata (“quarrel; deceit”).^[6][7][8][9] GRADIT and the Treccani Vocabolario derive it from the old noun baratta (“strife; fraud”), itself taken from the Occitan noun.^[10][11][8] The DEI traced the Occitan noun further to Old Norse baratta (“strife”).^[12][13]

The LEI rejects these proposals, and Nocentini follows it: the verb belongs with baro (“cheat”), from Latin bārō (“dolt, simpleton”), and its ending matches that of barattiere, built like mulattiere from mulo.^[14][13] Nocentini sees the old word barullo, meaning both “retailer” and “fool”, as support for this origin, since it has the two senses of its base.^[13] Other proposals are Ancient Greek πράττω (práttō, “to act, to do”), put forward by Wartburg and found harder by Meyer-Lübke, a reconstructed Latin *peractitāre, close to it in form and meaning (Greive), and a Celtic word for fraud (Corominas).^[2][13][15]

The verb is shared with Old French barater (“to cheat”), Catalan baratar (“to deceive”) and Spanish baratar, which meant “to do business, good or bad” in Old Spanish.^[13][15] barato (“cheap”) belongs to the same family.^[15][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first Italian record is a Venetian document of 1263, which survives in a Pisan-Lucchese copy.^[8][13] From the earliest texts the verb has the neutral sense “to exchange, to trade” beside the negative “to cheat”, and so do baratto and baratta.^[13] DELI dates the sense “to exchange one thing for another” to Dante.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Dante the verb is the crime of barratry, the sale of public office: of a man of Signa he says già per barattare ha l’occhio aguzzo (“already has a sharp eye for barratry”).^[6][4][11] The derivatives show the same mix: barattiere, from the first half of the 13th century, was a retailer, a swindler and a corrupt official, and baratteria, before 1274, was extortion by officials.^[13] Old meanings also included “to rout” and, used intransitively, “to give in, to surrender”.^[9][10][5]

From the 19th century the verb was used for exchanging words and greetings, as in Manzoni.^[11][10] The suspicion of fraud remained in proverbs such as Tuscan chi baratta, imbratta (“he who swaps, soils”), meaning that every exchange risks a cheat.^[16] DELI notes that the trade slang words barattina and barattino, a fraudulent exchange of goods (1950), keep this ambiguity.^[2] In Sassetti (1581) baratto means “cheaper”, after the Portuguese adverbial use of barato.^[2]

German took the verb as barattieren (1668),^[17] and Slovene borrowed it as barantati.^[1]

Timeline

• 1208 – Medieval Latin bareitare is recorded at Trento.^[2]
• 1263 – First Italian record, in a Venetian document.^[8][13]
• Before 1274 – Baratteria is recorded.^[13]
• 1278 – Baratto is recorded.^[13]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses barattare.^[2]
• 1384 – Baratare appears in the accounts of a merchant from Prato at Avignon.^[2]
• 1581 – Sassetti uses baratto for “cheaper”, after Portuguese.^[2]
• 1668 – German barattieren is recorded.^[17]
• 1950 – The trade slang barattina, a fraudulent exchange, is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To barter, to swap: to give one thing in exchange for another, without money: ho barattato due fumetti con un pallone.^[10][6][4]
2. (figurative, literary) To exchange words or greetings: barattammo due chiacchiere sulla porta.^[10][6][11]
3. (obsolete) To cheat, defraud; to practise baratteria.^[10][6][11]
4. (obsolete, intransitive) To give in, surrender.^[10][9][5]

Word family

• baratto
• barattiere
• baratteria
• barattamento
• barattatore
• ribarattare

Related words

• baratta
• baro
• Old Occitan baratar
• Spanish barato

Usage notes

Barattare le carte in mano a qualcuno means to twist what someone has said.^[9][11][5]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET, p. 1, 19
4. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
6. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
8. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 428
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
14. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 4, 1401
15. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
16. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET, p. 1, 863
17. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it