erta

Forms

erta f (plural erte)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian erto (“steep”): the feminine of that adjective, used as a noun.^[2][3][4][5] The adjective is the past participle of ergere (“to raise”): Nocentini traces it to Vulgar Latin *erctus, the participle of Latin ērigō (“to raise, set upright”).^[2][3][6][1] The Latin verb is formed from ex- (“out”) and regō (“to guide, direct”).^[1] The LEI explains the infinitive *ergere, with the loss of the vowel, as already Latin or Late Latin, probably with the stress shifted after the first person singular of the present, stressed on its first syllable.^[7] Beside the popular adjective, Italian has the learned borrowing eretto.^[1]

The adjective is also Catalan ert and Spanish yerto (“stiff”).^[3][8] The phrase all’erta “upwards; on the alert” was borrowed as French alerte in the 16th century.^[9][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Florentine document of 1255–1290, where the word names ground or a road rising upwards.^[10] DELI dates it from Dante, before 1321, whose Inferno opens with the leopard that appears quasi al cominciar de l'erta (“almost at the beginning of the slope”).^[2][11][12]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian had a erta and all'erta “upwards”, and all'erta “upright”, also of animals sold alive, standing on their legs.^[10][8] Boccaccio, commenting on the Inferno, noted that the slope is an erta only to one going up, and should be called china by one going down.^[11][13]

The phrase stare all'erta “to be on one's guard” arose in military language, where it meant to stand on a height so as to see the enemy coming;^[2] DELI dates it to Pietro Aretino, 1536.^[2] From it came the adverb allerta (1536) and the verb allertare (1963).^[3] Sentries called all'erta to each other to keep watch.^[14] The noun is now mainly literary.^[4][14]

Timeline

• 1255–1290 – The word appears in a Florentine document.^[10]
• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses the adjective erto “steep”.^[2][10]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses erta in the first canto of the Inferno.^[2]
• 1536 – Pietro Aretino uses stare all'erta “to be on guard”, and the adverb allerta appears.^[2][3]
• 16th century – French borrows all'erta as alerte.^[9]
• 1963 – Allertare is first recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary) A steep upward slope, a stretch of ground or road that is hard to climb: si fermò a metà dell'erta.^{[4][5][6][15]}
2. (rare) A high place.^[4]
3. (figurative) A hard, arduous undertaking.^[4]
4. In the phrase all'erta: on the alert, on guard, as in stare all'erta, also a call to keep watch; formerly also “upwards”.^{[5][15][14][16]}

Word family

• allerta
• allertare

Related words

• erto
• ergere
• eretto
• erigere
• French alerte
• Latin ērigō

Usage notes

All'erta is also written as one word, allerta.^[3] The opposite of erta is china or scesa, a slope going down.^[12][13] A Tuscan proverb advises: Quando tu puoi ir per la piana non cercar l'erta nè la scesa, don't look for difficulties where there are none.^[13] With a capital, Erta is also the Italian name of Hertha, the earth mother of the Germanic peoples, and of an asteroid discovered by C. H. P. Peters in 1874.^[9][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 21, 654
8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1526
10. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ 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. 5, 270
12. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli