composto

Forms

composto (feminine composta, masculine plural composti, feminine plural composte)^[1] Old Italian forms include conposto, chonposto, conposato and cumpostu.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Italian comporre (“to compose, put together”): the verb's past participle, used as an adjective and a noun.^[3][4][5][6] The participle continues Latin compostus, a syncopated variant of compositus, the past participle of compōnō (“to put together”).^[1][7][8] Tommaseo notes that Virgil already has compostus for compositus.^[9] The fuller Latin form gave the learned doublet composito.^[1]

The noun is the adjective used as a noun, formed like complesso.^[10] Its newer sense, compost, adapts English compost.^[5][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record of the adjective is in Andrea da Grosseto (Tuscany, 1268), with the sense “put together, made of several parts or ingredients”.^[2] The noun, “something made up of several elements”, is first found in the Questioni filosofiche from southeastern Tuscany, after 1298.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Dante wrote that man is composto d’anima e di corpo (made of soul and body), and Leonardo contrasted the simple things of nature with the countless composti that man makes from them.^[12][10] Old Italian also used the adjective for what is ordered and harmonious, for a well-built speech, for a calm sea and, with a negative turn, for something made up by artifice, a sense now obsolete.^[2][5] The sense “composed, orderly in bearing”, which DELI dates from Castiglione (before 1529), is the one of everyday stare composto “sit up properly”.^[13][14]

The sciences gave the word technical senses: a chemical compound (Tommaseo: water is a composto of oxygen and hydrogen), a compound word, a compound tense, a compound leaf or flower, a composite number, and compound interest.^[9][6][3] In the late 20th century it also took the sense “compost”, after English compost.^[11][5] Turkish borrowed the word as komposto.^[1]

Timeline

• 1268 – Andrea da Grosseto uses the adjective composto.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for “made of several parts”.^[13]
• After 1298 – The noun appears in the Questioni filosofiche.^[2]
• c. 1350 – The Italian Crescenzi uses the noun for a mixture.^[13][10]
• Before 1529 – Castiglione uses composto for “composed, decorous”.^[13]
• 17th century – The derivative compostezza appears.^[7]
• 1992 – An article by F. Marri notes the sense “compost”, after English compost.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. compound, composite: made up of several parts (with di or da): una squadra composta da undici giocatori.^[14][3][4]
2. (in technical phrases) Compound: parola composta (compound word), tempo composto (compound tense), foglia composta (compound leaf), numero composto (composite number), interesse composto (compound interest).^[3][5][15]
3. (heraldry) Of a bordure, bend, fess or pale: made of squares of alternating tinctures.^[14][3][6]
4. composed, calm, well-behaved: orderly and dignified in posture and manner: stare composto a tavola.^[14][3][4]
5. Neatly arranged, tidy: capelli composti.^[14][15]
6. (literary) Set in a given expression (with a): un viso composto a tristezza.^[14][5][15]
7. (obsolete) artificial, false.^[5][14]

Noun

1. A whole made up of several elements; a mixture.^[14][4][6]
2. (chemistry) A compound: a substance formed by two or more elements, with properties unlike theirs: composto organico.^[14][4][5]
3. (linguistics) A compound word.^[14][4][6]
4. compost.^[5][11]

Word family

• compostezza
• composta
• incomposto
• compostamente
• azocomposto

Related words

• comporre
• composito
• complesso
• Latin compositus

Usage notes

Composto is also the past participle of comporre and comporsi (il testo è stato composto in fretta).^[14][6] The vowel is pronounced closed or open: Wiktionary gives /komˈpos.to/ and /komˈpɔs.to/, Sabatini–Coletti both, and DEI the open ò for Rome.^[1][4][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
7. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1039
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
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. 3, 425
11. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. Supplemento 2009
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 424
13. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli