compratore

Forms

compratore m (plural compratori, feminine compratrice)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian comparatore, Old Italian comperatore and northern Old Italian compraore and Old Italian comprador.^[2][3][4] The feminine is compratrice.^[1][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin comparātor (“buyer, dealer”), the agent noun of comparō (“to procure, acquire”).^[2][6][7][8] The LEI reconstructs a Late Latin *comp(e)rātor from the Romance outcomes; the attested form, which glosses mercator (“merchant”) in the Reichenau Glosses, it takes for a re-Latinised spelling.^[4] Nocentini, Devoto–Oli and Treccani instead treat the word as an Italian derivative of comprare, and Sabatini–Coletti as one with a Late Latin model.^{[9][5][10][11]}

The same noun is Romansh cumpradur, Old Occitan comprador, Catalan comprador, Spanish comprador, Portuguese comprador and Romanian cumpărător.^[4]

The Latin verb is formed from con- and parō (“to prepare, procure”).^[2][9][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is comparatore in a Viterbese vernacular text of Rainerio da Perugia from the first half of the 13th century: E la dè a dectu comparatore (“and gave it to the said buyer”).^[2][3][12]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th and 14th centuries the word appears in many forms across Italy, in the statutes of merchants and guilds: Old Venetian conpraore (about 1250), Lucchese compratore (1297), Sienese compratore (1298), and Florentine comperatore, which Giamboni used before 1292.^[4][2] In the communes it could name the public official in charge of purchases, and the winner of a contract to collect taxes;^[3] compratore di uffici was someone who bought public offices.^[3]

The modern form became standard in the 16th century, with Ariosto (from 1525) and Aretino (before 1556).^[4][2] Today it is often replaced by acquirente, and in commerce names a professional buyer of goods for a firm.^[10][6][7]

Timeline

• First half of the 13th century – Rainerio da Perugia uses comparatore.^[2][3]
• c. 1250 – Old Venetian conpraore.^[4]
• Before 1292 – Giamboni uses comperatore.^[2]
• 1297 – Lucchese compratore in a letter.^[4]
• 1525 – Ariosto uses comprator(e).^[4]
• Before 1556 – Aretino uses compratore.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A buyer, purchaser: someone who buys, or wants to buy: La villa non ha ancora trovato un compratore.^{[6][5][11][1]}
2. (business) A professional buyer, in charge of purchasing goods for a firm, especially in clothing.^[6][7][13]

Related words

• comprare
• compera
• acquirente
• venditore
• Latin comparator

Usage notes

The Tuscan proverb A roba fatta non manca compratore says that a finished thing always finds a buyer.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ 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. 16, 412
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET