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bottone

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word bottone

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1277–1282 Sienese document More words from the 13th century
Borrowed from
Old French boton
Ultimate origin
Old French boter

Pronunciation

  • /botˈto.ne/[1]

Forms

bottone m (plural bottoni)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French boton (“bud; button”), modern French bouton, which is recorded from 1160–1185.[2][3][4][5] The French word is formed on the verb boter (“to push out; to sprout”) (modern bouter), with the diminutive suffix -on, and meant “bud” before it meant “button”: the small round fastener was named after the bud, as Genoese pomèllo “button” is named after a small fruit.[3][2][4] Prati thought the Italian word must have come from French, as Spanish botón did.[6] The same French word gave Portuguese botão and the English word button.[7][3] Wiktionary calls the French origin probable and also mentions an origin in Vulgar Latin *botonus.[1]

The French verb is related to Italian buttare.[3][2] Since Diez it has been traced to Frankish *bōtan (“to push, strike”), a view Meyer-Lübke and von Wartburg followed.[7][8][9] The LEI rejects this, since the French consonant and the vowel do not fit the Germanic verb, and groups the Romance words under pre-Latin bases, probably sound-imitative, meaning “swelling, something convex”.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first Italian record is in a Sienese document of 1277–1282, and a Florentine text of 1286 has a pound of buttons bought and sent to Orvieto.[10][2][11] The sense is the fastener of a garment.[10][2] Medieval Latin documents of Venice (1283) and Rome (1295) already have the word, and Venetian botoni is recorded at the end of the 13th century.[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the button as a measure of worthlessness: non valere un bottone meant to be worth nothing.[10] The botanical sense “bud”, the original sense of the French word, is recorded in Italian before 1543, in Firenzuola, and the sense of anything shaped like a button before 1571, in Cellini.[2][3] The 19th century added plant names, bottone d'argento and botton d'oro (1865).[2]

The modern sense “push button” on electrical and other devices appears before 1904, in Panzacchi.[2] From it came stanza dei bottoni, the room where decisions are taken: DELI, citing Pallotta, says Nenni brought the phrase into politics in a speech in Rome on 8 October 1962, and it is recorded in 1965.[2] Attaccare bottone is to hold someone in a long, tiresome conversation.[12][13] The word also names a fencing button, a knot in rigging, a skin nodule and the taste bud (bottone gustativo).[4][12][14]

Bottoniera, a row of buttons, is modelled on French boutonnière and is recorded before 1712.[2][3]

Timeline

  • 1160–1185 – French bouton is recorded.[2]
  • 1277–1282 – Bottone appears in a Sienese document.[10][3]
  • 1283 – Medieval Latin botonorum is recorded at Venice.[2]
  • 1286 – A Florentine text mentions buttons sent to Orvieto.[2][11]
  • Before 1543 – Firenzuola uses the word for a bud.[2]
  • Before 1571 – Cellini uses it for an object shaped like a button.[2]
  • Before 1712 – Bottoniera is recorded.[2]
  • Before 1904 – Panzacchi uses it for a push button.[2]
  • 1962 – Nenni speaks of the stanza dei bottoni.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. button: a small disc, usually with holes, sewn to one edge of a garment and pushed through a buttonhole to close it, or worn as an ornament: mi si è staccato un bottone del cappotto.[4][5][15][1]
  2. A push button that works a device, especially an electrical one: il bottone della radio.[4][5][12]
  3. (computing) A button on a screen.[5][15][12]
  4. (botany) A bud.[4][15][1]
  5. (fencing) The small disc on the tip of a foil or sword that makes it harmless.[4][5][14]
  6. (anatomy, medicine) A nodule: bottone gustativo, a taste bud.[4][15][12]
  7. (music) The small wooden peg on a violin that holds the tailpiece.[4][5][14]
  8. (nautical) A knot in a rope that stops a loop, or a ball of oakum on a sail for a grip.[4][13]
  9. (textiles) A tangle of fibres that is a fault in spinning.[15][12]

Word family

  • bottoniera
  • bottonificio
  • abbottonare
  • sbottonare
  • bottonaio
  • bottoncino
  • bottoneria

Usage notes

Common phrases are bottone automatico (a press stud), bottoni gemelli (cufflinks), attaccare bottone and stanza dei bottoni.[12][16][13] An old bottone meaning “a cutting remark” (dare or sputare bottoni) is taken by DEI as an augmentative of botto “blow”.[17][18]

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 Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  6. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 168
  7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  9. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 6, 1455
  10. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  11. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 334
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
  14. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  15. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  17. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 577
  18. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Bottone.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/it/bottone. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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