detto

Forms

detto (feminine detta, masculine plural detti, feminine plural dette), as a noun m (plural detti)^[1] An old variant is ditto, used by Guinizzelli and Francesco da Barberino.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dictus (“said”), the past participle of dīcō (“to say”), and in Italian it serves as the past participle of dire “to say”.^[4][1][5] The noun is inherited from Latin dictum (“what has been said; a saying”), the neuter of the participle, already used as a noun in Latin.^[4][6][2][1]

The noun is shared with other Romance languages: French dit, Spanish dicho, and the Romansh forms ditta (Engadine) and detga (Sursilvan).^[6][7] In Old French, dit also meant a short poem, as the Italian noun came to do.^[8][7]

The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show”).^[9][1] The participle reflects Proto-Italic *diktos and *diktós.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The LEI's earliest Italian records of the noun are Tuscan, in the poetry of Giacomo da Lentini (1230–1250), in the sense of a poem or verse, and Old Venetian, in the Panfilo of about 1250, in the sense of something said.^[7] DELI first finds both the adjective “already named” and the noun “motto, maxim” in Giamboni, who died before 1292.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Beside its use as the participle of dire, detto became an adjective meaning “aforesaid”, recorded before 1292, and “called, nicknamed”, recorded in Dante before 1321.^[4] The second sense is the one used today before a nickname, as in a painter's familiar name.^[10][11]

The noun went through several senses.^[12][11] In Dante it is “word” and “speech” (O non m’è ’l detto tuo ben manifesto?, “or is your word not clear to me?”), and in the early literatures of the Romance languages it named a short allegorical or didactic poem, such as the Detto d'Amore.^[11][10][7] The LEI dates “witty remark” to Boccaccio's Decameron (about 1370), “motto, proverb” to Pulci (1483) and “oracle's answer” to Savonarola (1498).^[7] Old proverbs used it too: dal detto al fatto c’è un gran tratto, “it is a long way from saying to doing”.^[11][13]

In the stage directions of plays, e detti after a list of names marks characters who stay on stage from the previous scene.^[12][13][11] The feminine detta survives in the phrase a detta di “according to”, recorded before 1618.^[6]

Timeline

• 1230–1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses detto of a poem or verse.^[7]
• c. 1250 – The Old Venetian Panfilo has detto “something said”.^[7]
• Before 1292 – Giamboni uses detto “aforesaid” and the noun “maxim”.^[4]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses detto “called, nicknamed”.^[4]
• c. 1370 – Boccaccio's Decameron has detto “witty remark”.^[7]
• 1483 – Pulci uses detto “motto, proverb”.^[7]
• Before 1618 – The phrase a detta di is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. said, spoken: the participle of dire used as an adjective: Le cose dette ieri valgono ancora.^[12][14]
2. called, nicknamed: before a nickname or familiar name: Giovanni Rossi detto il Moro.^[12][13][10]
3. aforesaid, already mentioned: nella detta casa.^[12][13][11]
4. Fixed, set: of a day or time already agreed.^[12][15]
5. (theatre) In stage directions, of characters already on stage who stay for the next scene: Pantalone e detti.^[12][13][11]

Noun

1. A saying, motto or proverb: un vecchio detto toscano.^[12][10][11]
2. (literary) A word, a speech or what someone says or claims: stare al detto di qualcuno, to rely on what someone says.^[12][13][11]
3. A witty remark, a quip.^[12][15][14]
4. The answer of an oracle.^[12]
5. (history of literature) A short medieval poem on an allegorical, narrative or didactic subject.^[12][10][11]

Word family

• detta
• suddetto
• cosiddetto
• sopraddetto
• predetto

Related words

• dettare
• dire
• ditta
• Latin dictum
• French dit

Usage notes

Common phrases with the participle are detto fatto “no sooner said than done”, come non detto “forget I said it”, detto tra noi “between ourselves”, non è detto “it is not certain” and è presto detto “easier said than done”.^{[12][13][15][11]} Detto also forms compounds such as suddetto and cosiddetto.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 373
3. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1269
6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 20, 323
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli