bruto

Forms

bruto (feminine bruta, masculine plural bruti, feminine plural brute)^[1] Old Italian also wrote the word Old Italian brutto, as Guittone and Restoro d'Arezzo did.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin brūtus (“heavy; dull, stupid”).^[3][4][5][1] In Latin the word meant both “heavy” and, figuratively, “stupid”, and in Medieval Latin it took on the sense “lacking reason”, said of animals as opposed to man.^[3][4] There was also Medieval Latin brūtālis from the 10th century.^[6] Meyer-Lübke notes that the word appears late everywhere in Romance, so it is a Latinism, as in French brut, Spanish bruto and Portuguese bruto.^[7] Wiktionary calls brutto (“ugly”) its doublet.^[1]

Some modern derivatives follow French usage: brutalizzare matches French brutaliser, recorded from the 16th century, and Nocentini takes brutale from French brutal.^[3][4]

The Latin word is generally taken to be a dialect word of the Oscan type, with Proto-Indo-European *gʷ- becoming ⟨b⟩, from the same stem as Latin gravis (“heavy”).^[8][4][9] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *gʷrūto- and Proto-Indo-European *gʷr̥h₂-u-to- (“heavy”), and compares Latvian grūts (“heavy”).^[8] Festus records that the ancients said brutum for “heavy”.^[8][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Restoro d'Arezzo in 1282, in the sense “lacking knowledge and reason, wild”.^[2][11] Guittone d'Arezzo, before 1294, uses the form brutto for an animal without reason.^[3][10] The form bruto is in Dante's Convivio (1304–1308), which uses the word often.^[3]

Semantic evolution

As a noun for an animal without reason it is in Dante's Inferno: fatti non foste a viver come bruti, / ma per seguir virtute e conoscenza (you were not made to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge).^[3][12][13] The sense “brutal, beastly” is in Domenico Cavalca, before 1342, and forza bruta appears in the 15th century in the Piovano Arlotto.^[3]

DEI notes that in 15th-century Emilia the learned word was used for “unfinished”.^[6] The noun took on the sense “violent man” by 1865 and “satyr, sexual maniac” by 1905.^[3] Arte bruta adapts French art brut.^[14] As a common noun, Bruto has also been used for an enemy of tyrants, after Marcus Junius Brutus, the killer of Caesar.^[12]

Timeline

• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses the word.^[2][11]
• Before 1294 – Guittone uses the form brutto.^[3]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses bruto as a noun.^[3]
• 1304–1308 – Dante's Convivio has the form bruto.^[3]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses it for “brutal”.^[3]
• 15th century – Forza bruta in the Piovano Arlotto.^[3]
• 1865 – The sense “violent man” is recorded.^[3]
• 1905 – Panzini records the sense “sexual maniac”.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Lacking human reason: animale bruto.^[5][13][15]
2. Not guided by reason, brutal, beastly: forza bruta, brute force.^[5][13][11]
3. Raw, unprocessed: dati bruti, and materia bruta, matter not yet worked.^[5][13][15]
4. Harsh, stark: la bruta crudezza dei fatti.^[5][13][16]
5. (chemistry) Formula bruta, the empirical formula of a compound, which gives the atoms without their arrangement.^[17][16]

Noun

1. A brute, a creature without reason, an animal as opposed to man.^[5][13][15]
2. A violent, brutal man, or, jokingly, a rough one.^[5][13]
3. A man who commits rape or other violent sexual acts.^[5][13][11]

Word family

• brutale
• brutalità
• brutalizzare
• abbrutire
• imbrutire

Related words

• brutto
• grave
• Latin brutus
• French brut

Usage notes

Bruto is also the Italian for the Roman name Brutus.^[1][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 619
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
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, 410
11. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli