cartaio

Forms

cartaio m (plural cartai)^[1] Old and regional forms include Old Italian cartaro and Old Italian chartaio (1401).^[2][3][4] The northern dialects have Lombard cartée and Venetian cartèr.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Italian carta + -aio.^[5][2][6][1] Treccani sees it as formed on the model of Late Latin chartārius (“one who makes or sells paper”);^[4] the LEI, GRADIT, Sabatini–Coletti and Wiktionary derive it directly from chartārius,^[3][7][8][1] and the GDLI calls it a learned word.^[9] In Latin the word was an adjective meaning “of papyrus making”, used as a noun for a maker or seller of papyrus.^[10] It is formed from Latin charta + -ārius, and charta (“papyrus, paper”) is from Ancient Greek χάρτης (khártēs).^[1] The Latin noun also gave Friulian ciartâr.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the form cartaro in a Modenese document of 1353, for one who makes and sells paper and other writing materials.^[2] In standard Italian the plural cartari is in Garzoni (1585) and cartaio in C. Rao (1592).^[11][7]

Semantic evolution

Magalotti and Baretti name cartai among those who lived by books, with printers, binders and booksellers.^[9] The word later also covered a maker of playing cards, a worker in the paper industry, and a seller or hanger of wallpaper.^[7][4] At cards the cartaio is the player who shuffles and deals, recorded from 1887.^[3]

The feminine cartaia has meant a paper mill since 1865, and the wife of a cartaio since 1990.^[3]

Timeline

• 1353 – Cartaro in a Modenese document.^[2]
• 1401 – Chartaio in a letter from Fabriano.^[3]
• 1585 – Garzoni uses the plural cartari.^[11]
• 1592 – C. Rao uses cartaio.^[11]
• 1887 – First record for the card dealer.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A papermaker; also a maker of playing cards, or a worker in the paper industry.^[7][5][12]
2. A wholesale paper dealer; a seller of wallpaper.^[7][5][4]
3. A craftsman who hangs wallpaper.^[7][5][12]
4. (card games) The dealer, the player who shuffles and deals the cards.^[7][5][12]

Word family

• cartaia

Related words

• carta
• cartiera
• cartolaio
• Latin chartarius

Usage notes

The GDLI records a separate, jocular adjective cartaio “of card games”, in Aretino's giudicio cartaio.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 13, 1448
4. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
7. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ 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, 813
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli