Etymologically
Log in

dottore

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 21 October 2026 at 19:20. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /dotˈto.re/[1]

Forms

dottore m (plural dottori, feminine dottoressa)[1] The TLIO's early forms include Old Italian dotore, doctore and dottorio.[2] Before a name it is shortened to dottor.[3][4] The feminine is dottoressa (16th century), jocularly also dottora.[5][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin doctor (“teacher, instructor”), from the accusative ⟨doctōrem⟩, a learned word.[6][7][8][9] Wiktionary treats it as inherited.[1] The noun is formed from Latin doceō (“to teach”) + -tor.[10][1]

Nocentini notes that the word spread through the European languages in the Middle Ages, with Medieval Latin doctor as the title of the new universities.[7] DEI and GDLI trace the steps: the title ⟨doctores ecclesiae⟩ was given to some Fathers of the Church for the authority of their teaching, and in the late Middle Ages it became an academic degree, conferred first at Bologna, above all in theology and later in medicine.[5][9] The same learned word is French docteur, Spanish doctor, Portuguese doutor and Romanian doftor.[11][7] Körting observed that it is learned everywhere, the popular word being, as already in Latin, magister.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a lauda by the Sienese Ruggieri Apugliese, from the middle of the 13th century, where it means a person of wide learning and authority.[2] Zingarelli dates it 1268.[12] DELI's first record, with the sense “one able to teach a discipline”, is in Bono Giamboni, before 1292: “In tutti i dottori scritto si trova…” (it is found written in all the learned authors…).[6][9]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word named the master of a doctrine: Dante calls Virgil his dottore (“poscia ch'io ebbi il mio dottore udito”, after I had heard my teacher).[8][13] It also named the doctors of law, as in dottore di legge and dottore utriusque iuris, of civil and canon law.[2] The sense “physician” appears before 1400 in Franco Sacchetti, and DEI notes that it was by then the usual popular sense.[6][5] From the 12th to the 17th century great theologians were given epithets such as dottor angelico (Thomas Aquinas) and dottor sottile (Duns Scotus).[8]

In the commedia dell'arte the Doctor was the pedantic old scholar, lawyer or physician, usually from Bologna, such as il dottor Balanzone, whose name DEI derives from Venetian balanza “scales”, the sign of justice.[5][13] DELI first records this sense in 1835, though DEI places the mask in the 16th century.[6][5] German has Dottore for the stage figure from 1838.[14] Today the title belongs to anyone holding a university degree, and it is abbreviated dott. or dr.[8][13]

Timeline

  • Mid-13th century – Ruggieri Apugliese uses dottore for a learned man.[2]
  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it of the authors one learns from.[6]
  • Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses it for a physician.[6]
  • 1835 – It is recorded as the name of the commedia dell'arte mask.[6][14]
  • 1838 – German Dottore is first recorded.[14]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The academic title of a graduate, someone who holds a university degree (a laurea); also used before the surname, as dottor, and in address: Buongiorno, dottor Ferri.[8][3][4]
  2. (colloquial) A physician, a doctor: Ho ancora la febbre, domani vado dal dottore.[8][3][13]
  3. (historical) A man of law, a lawyer.[8][3][13]
  4. (archaic) A teacher or master of a doctrine; a learned person.[8][12] Dottore della Chiesa is the title of saints honoured for their teaching.[8][12][15]
  5. (theatre) The Doctor, a stock character of the commedia dell'arte who mocks the learned pedant.[8][4][13]
  6. (derogatory) fare il dottore: to act the know-all.[8][12]

Word family

  • dottoressa
  • dottorale
  • dottorato
  • dottorando
  • addottorare
  • dottoreggiare
  • sdottorare
  • dottoresco
  • dottrina
  • dotto
  • docente
  • Latin doctor

Usage notes

Like other titles, dottore loses its final vowel before a name (il dottor Rossi).[3][4] A proverb warns against overwork: meglio un asino vivo che un dottore morto (better a live donkey than a dead doctor).[13] In Tuscany dottore was also a popular name for some birds, the mallard according to Redi and the nuthatch at Pisa.[9][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  5. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1387
  6. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ 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. 4, 980
  10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ a b c d e f g Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  14. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli