cantatore

Forms

cantatore m (plural cantatori, feminine cantatrice or cantatora)^[1] Early forms include Old Italian cantadore, Old Italian cantator, Old Italian cantaor and Old Italian chantatore.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cantātor (“singer”), the agent noun of cantō (“to sing”), itself an intensive of canō (“to sing”).^[3][1][4][5] Once Latin cantor had narrowed to the church singer, the longer noun became the ordinary agent noun of the verb.^[6] The LEI counts the Italian word among the inherited ones, while Zingarelli calls it learned and the TLIO and Wiktionary also analyse it as cantare with -tore.^[6][7][2][1]

The same word is Romanian cântător, Old French chanteor, Old Occitan cantador, Catalan cantador, Spanish cantador and Portuguese cantador.^[6][1] In Old Venetian, the form çantator is a 14th-century borrowing from French.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is cantadore in Guido delle Colonne, before 1280, in Tuscan form, for a person who sings, for pleasure or as a profession.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the word for a maker of verses, for one who praises someone, and as an adjective for birds and other animals with a pleasing song.^[2] Boccaccio has the pairing cantatore e sonatore (“singer and player”), describing Minuccio as un finissimo cantatore e sonatore.^[8][9]

The feminine cantatrice is literary, and cantatora popular.^[10][4] For a person who practises the art of singing, cantatore is now less common than cantore and cantante, and GRADIT marks it obsolete and literary.^[9][11] DIFIT records the word in English in the 19th century.^[12]

Timeline

• Before 1280 – Guido delle Colonne uses cantadore.^[6][2]
• 1282 – Zingarelli's date of first record.^[7]
• c. 1335–1336 – Boccaccio uses cantatore in the Filostrato.^[6]
• 19th century – The word is recorded in English.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (rare, literary) A singer; a person who sings.^{[11][7][13][1]}

Adjective

1. That sings, said especially of birds.^[11][4][13]
2. (archaic) Melodious.^[14][1]

Related words

• cantare
• cantore
• cantante
• Latin cantator

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
4. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 10, 1399
7. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 225
11. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli