coltro

Forms

coltro m (plural coltri)^[1] An older form is cultro.^[2][3] Como has Lombard coltra, “plough”.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin culter (“knife”), which also meant the blade of the plough.^{[6][7][8][9][4]} In the sense “knife” the Latin word gave way to its diminutive cultellus, the source of coltello.^[10][7] DEI notes the word in Tuscany and Cortona.^[4]

The same word is French coutre and Occitan coltre, which can also mean a plough without wheels.^[7][5] Aragonese and Navarrese cuitre mean “plough”.^[5] The Latin word was borrowed into Old English culter, Irish coltar and, as “plough”, Basque golde.^[4][5]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *k(e/o)ltro- (“knife”) and connects it with the root Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelh₂/₃- (“to split, cleave”), so the word meant a tool for cleaving.^[11] Others explain it by dissimilation from *kertro-, from *(s)ker- (“to shear”), an assumption De Vaan finds unnecessary.^[11] DEI calls the origin unknown.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Latin–Aretine glossary of the mid-14th century, with the sense of the sharp blade fixed in front of the ploughshare that cuts the sod vertically.^[12]

Semantic evolution

DELI dates the word only from Luigi Alamanni in 1546, whose poem on farming lists coltri among the tools with hoes and spades.^[6][13][14] The GDLI follows the word through Targioni Tozzetti to D'Annunzio and Bacchelli, always as the blade of the plough.^[13]

By extension it came to mean a plough with this kind of share, which turns the earth to one side only.^[9][8][13] Prati records coltrina, a primitive Tuscan plough, and an old coltra di campo, the land a plough could turn in a day.^[15] On Venetian ships of the 14th and 15th centuries coltro also named a bulkhead at the bow.^[13][3]

Timeline

• c. 1350 – The word is recorded in a Latin–Aretine glossary.^[12]
• 1546 – Luigi Alamanni uses coltri in a list of farm tools.^[6][13]
• 1500s – The diminutive coltruolo, “small knife”, is recorded.^[4]
• Before 1603 – GRADIT dates the word.^[9]
• Before 1928 – The verb coltrare, to work the soil with the coulter, is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (agriculture) coulter: the steel blade set in front of the ploughshare, which cuts the soil vertically.^{[9][8][16][2][1]}
2. (by extension) A plough fitted with such a share, which turns the soil to one side only.^[9][8][16]
3. (nautical, obsolete) On old ships, a bulkhead at the bow between the two cranes.^[9][3][17]

Word family

• coltrare
• coltrina
• coltruolo

Related words

• coltello
• cultro
• Latin culter
• French coutre

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
3. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1023
5. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d 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 d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
13. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 333
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 311
16. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli