bevitore

Forms

bevitore m (plural bevitori, feminine bevitrice)^[1] The feminine is bevitrice, popularly bevitora.^[2][3] Old Italian forms include bevatore (Verona, 13th century), bevetore, bevedore and vevitore, and the feminine Old Italian bevedrixe in a Bolognese record of 1282.^[4][5][6] A form Old Italian beitore appears in the Italian Crescenzi of 1320.^[6][7]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin bibitor (“drinker”), from the stem of bibō (“to drink”) with the agent suffix -tor.^[8][7][6][9] The LEI counts it as a popular continuation of the Latin word.^[6] Treccani and the GDLI analyse it instead as derived from bevere, the old form of bere, on the model of the Latin noun, and Wiktionary allows both.^[10][3][1]

The Latin noun also survives in French buveur (Old French beveor), Old Occitan bevedor, Catalan bevedor, Spanish bebedor, Portuguese bebedor and Romanian băutor.^[6][11]

Latin bibō comes from Proto-Italic *pibe/o-, a reduplicated present of Proto-Indo-European *pi-ph₃-e/o- (“to drink”); the initial ⟨b-⟩ is an assimilation to the ⟨-b-⟩ inside the word.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Storie de Troia e de Roma, a Roman text of 1252–1258, in the plain sense “one who drinks”.^[4][5][13] The sense “one who drinks habitually, especially alcohol” follows in a 13th-century didactic poem with the form bevatore and, as bevitore, in Cavalca before 1342.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word mostly in moral writing for those given to wine: Cavalca puts “drinkers, gamblers and dishonest lovers” together, and Boccaccio's Decameron speaks of people who are “gluttons, drinkers, drunkards”.^[10][5] The feminine bevitrice was a reproach as well.^[10]

Today the word names anyone who drinks a given drink, a bevitore di caffè, and especially someone who drinks alcohol often and holds it well, a buon or gran bevitore.^[7][14][15] In medicine a bevitore abituale drinks heavily without yet showing chronic alcoholism.^[16] The LEI takes the phrase bevitore di sangue “drinker of blood” as a Gallicism.^[6]

Timeline

• 1252–1258 – The Storie de Troia e de Roma use bevitore.^[4][5]
• 13th century – A didactic poem from Verona has bevatore “habitual drinker”.^[4]
• 1282 – The feminine bevedrixe appears in a Bolognese record.^[4]
• 1320 – The Italian Crescenzi uses beitore.^[6]
• Before 1342 – Cavalca uses bevitore for a habitual drinker.^[4][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A drinker: someone who drinks, especially a lot of a given drink: un bevitore di tè.^[7][14][2]
2. Someone who habitually drinks alcohol and tolerates it well: È un forte bevitore di vino.^{[7][14][15][3]}
3. (uncommon) Someone drinking in a tavern, a tavern-goer.^[14][2][3]

Adjective

1. (rare) That drinks.^[2][15][17]

Related words

• bere
• Latin bibitor
• French buveur

Usage notes

Non essere un gran bevitore means to drink only moderately.^[14][3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
7. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli