bretone

Forms

bretone m or f by sense (plural bretoni)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin Brittō (“Briton, Breton”), the name of Celtic peoples of Britain and later of the inhabitants of Brittany.^[2][3][4][1] Zingarelli and Gabrielli give the Late Latin form as Brĕttonem.^[5][6] GRADIT compares Old French breton, recorded in 1080.^[2]

The LEI groups this word and its variant brettone among words taken from other languages, not with the inherited forms such as Old Bolognese bertuni.^[4] It notes the proparoxytone stress and the open tonic vowel, and thinks the Arthurian poems and romances helped the word to spread.^[4] The common metathesis to ⟨bert-⟩ in the dialect forms may owe something to bertone (“lover; pimp”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Florentine vernacular version of the Tesoro, from the late 13th century, with the sense “of Brittany, coming from Brittany”.^[7] Giovanni Villani, before 1348, has brettone and speaks of romanzi brettoni, the Arthurian romances.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the word for the inhabitants of Brittany and for books on its legends.^[7] The form brettone was usual until the 19th century, and brètone is recorded from 1840.^[4] The name of the Celtic language is recorded from 1766.^[4]

Under the influence of the romanzi brettoni the adjective came to describe the Arthurian cycle: Carducci uses it in this sense in 1871, and ciclo bretone is recorded from 1903.^[4] In the 20th century razza bretone named a breed of heavy draught horse.^[4][2]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – The adjective appears in the Florentine version of the Tesoro.^[7]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani writes brettone and romanzi brettoni.^[4]
• 1766 – Bretone is first recorded as the name of the language.^[4]
• 1840 – The form brètone appears in Tommaseo.^[4]
• 1903 – Ciclo bretone is recorded for the Arthurian cycle.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or from Brittany, the region of north-western France.^[2][8][9][5]
2. (literature) Of the Arthurian cycle of medieval poems and romances, about King Arthur's knights, Tristan and Isolde and others: ciclo bretone.^[2][8][5]
3. (zoology) Of a breed of heavy draught horse from Brittany: razza bretone.^[2][8][5]

Noun

1. A native or inhabitant of Brittany.^[2][8][9][1]
2. (uncountable) Breton, the Celtic language spoken in Brittany.^[2][8][5][1]
3. A horse of the Breton breed.^[2]

Related words

• Bretagna
• French breton
• Latin Brittō

Usage notes

The variant brettone is still listed beside bretone.^[8][9][5][3]

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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 7, 539
5. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
7. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse