cheto

Forms

cheto (feminine cheta, masculine plural cheti, feminine plural chete)^[1] Early forms include Old Italian chito, Old Italian chieto and Old Italian chetto.^[2][3][4] The literary form queto is used by Dante.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *quētus (“calm, still”), the popular form of Latin quiētus.^[6][1][7] DELI gives it the same origin as quieto, of which it is the popular doublet.^[2] Tommaseo explains the form by the loss of the /i/ and the change of ⟨que⟩ to ⟨che⟩.^[8] The same word is French coi, Occitan quet, Catalan quet, Spanish quedo, Portuguese quedo and Sardinian chiétu.^[6]

The Latin adjective is the participle of quiēscō (“to rest”) and belongs with quiēs (“rest”).^{[9][1][10][11]} De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *kʷieh₁-ti- (“rest, peace”), with cognates such as Old Persian šiyāti- (“welfare, happiness”).^[10][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the form chito in Giacomo da Lentini, before 1250, in the sense “silent, quiet, calm”.^[2][7] The TLIO's first record of cheto is in Brunetto Latini's Rettorica, in Florence around 1260–1261.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word for what does not move, for a person or a time untroubled by conflict, for what makes no noise, and in trade for a person free of a debt or obligation, or a creditor who has been paid.^[3][5] Tommaseo observed that cheto was opposed less to movement than to noise.^[8]

The verb chetare “to calm” appears with the adjective, as chitare in Giacomo da Lentini and as chetare in the late 13th century, and the phrase alla chetichella “on the quiet” grew from a chetichelli (Varchi, before 1565) through a chetichella (1729).^[2]

Today cheto is Tuscan or literary, beside the common quieto.^[12][1][13]

Timeline

• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini writes chito, and the verb chitare.^[2][7]
• c. 1260–1261 – Brunetto Latini's Rettorica has cheto.^[3]
• 1280–1310 – The Fiore has cheto.^[2]
• 1281–1297 – The verb chetare is recorded.^[2]
• Before 1565 – Benedetto Varchi writes a chetichelli.^[2]
• 1729 – The Crusca dictionary records a chetichella.^[2]
• 1844 – Giuseppe Giusti writes alla chetichella.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Tuscan, literary) quiet, still, silent: Il cane rimase cheto sotto il tavolo.^{[7][11][14][1]}
2. (archaic) Secret, hidden.^[7][15][13]
3. (archaic) Soft, low, of the voice.^[15][13]

Adverb

1. Quietly, softly: parlare cheto.^[11][13]

Word family

• chetare
• chetichella
• chetamente
• chetoni

Related words

• quieto
• quiete
• Latin quietus
• French coi

Usage notes

Repeated, cheto cheto means “without a sound, on the quiet”.^[7][14] An acqua cheta is a person who seems meek but acts unseen, and the proverb l'acqua cheta rovina i ponti (“still water wrecks bridges”) warns against quiet people.^[14][13][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 38
5. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 273
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b 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