cote

Forms

cote f (plural coti)^[1] An old form is cota, used by Sacchetti and Poliziano.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cōs (“whetstone”).^[5][6][7][1] DEI and GDLI call it a learned word, and Meyer-Lübke lists the Italian form only in brackets among the outcomes of the Latin word;^[8][4][9][6] Nocentini gives it among the Latin words with Romance cognates.^[8][4][9][6] The popular outcomes are Romanian cute, French queux, Occitan cot and Catalan cot, and in Italy Sicilian cuti “whetstone, stone”.^[6][9][8] The French word died out because it fell together with queue (“tail”).^[9]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *kōt- (“whetstone”) and a Proto-Indo-European *ḱe/oh₃-t- (“sharpening”), related to Old English hān (“whetstone”).^[10] Nocentini also connects the Greek word for “pine cone” behind cono.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Mantuan Belcalzer (1299–1309), for a very hard abrasive stone used to sharpen blades.^[11] DELI dates it to before 1374, in Petrarch.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Petrarch already used it as a figure for what sharpens a feeling: Sempr' aguzzando il giovenil desio / a l'empia cote “always whetting youthful desire on the cruel whetstone”.^[12][13] Tasso's line de la virtù cote è lo sdegno “scorn is the whetstone of virtue” is the dictionaries' example of the figurative sense.^[7][3][14] Castiglione wrote that la cote che non taglia punto, pur fa acuto il ferro “the whetstone that does not cut at all still sharpens the iron”.^[4][13]

In older literature cote could also mean a rock or cliff (Ariosto, Pindemonte), as Latin cōtēs did, and on the Isola del Giglio it still does.^[2][10] The TLIO records an extended sense “stone” in building.^[11]

Timeline

• 1299–1309 – First record, in Belcalzer's Mantuan text.^[11]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses the word, also figuratively.^[5][12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A whetstone: a piece of hard abrasive stone, usually a siliceous limestone, used to sharpen blades: passò la lama sulla cote.^[7][14][12]
2. (figurative, literary) A spur or stimulus: something that sharpens a feeling or the will.^[7][12][15]

Related words

• cono
• Latin cōs

Usage notes

The pronunciation is /ˈko.te/ or /ˈkɔ.te/.^[12][1] GRADIT lists pietra da cote “whetstone”.^[7]

Cote “skin, rind”, regional in Emilia, is from Latin cutis and recorded before 1951.^[7][14][16] Cote in horse racing, each horse's odds, is from French cote “share, estimate”, from Medieval Latin quota, and dated 1913.^[7][12][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 340
3. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
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. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1136
9. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
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 Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ 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)
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ 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
15. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1137