fitto

fitto¹ driven in; thick, dense

Etymology tree of fitto¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin fingō

Italian fingere

Spanish fingir

Latin fīctus

Italian fitto

From the same root · fitto¹

English feint ← fingō

Latin affingō ← fingō

Latin cōnfingō ← fingō

Latin effingō ← fingō

Latin fictiō ← fingō

Latin fictor ← fingō

Latin figmentum ← fingō

Latin figūra ← fingō

Latin fictīcius ← fīctus

Latin fictilis ← fīctus

Pronunciation

• /ˈfit.to/^[1]

Forms

fitto (feminine fitta, masculine plural fitti, feminine plural fitte, superlative fittissimo)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “driven in; thick” is inherited from Latin fīctus (“fixed, driven in”), a by-form of the past participle of fīgō (“to drive in, fasten”) that took the place of classical fīxus.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} Lucretius and Varro already use this form instead of the classical one.^[6] It is thus the old past participle of figgere, and a doublet of fisso, which continues the classical participle.^[1][7]

The participle lives on in most of the Romance languages, though not in Romanian, Dalmatian or Sardinian.^[8] The same word is Occitan fich (“firm”), Spanish hito (“boundary stone”) and Portuguese fito (“driven in”).^[3][9]

The Latin verb goes back to a Proto-Indo-European present of the root Proto-Indo-European *dheigw- or Proto-Indo-European *dhiHgw-, with a cognate in Lithuanian díegti (“to plant, sting”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Proverbia que dicuntur, a Venetian poem of the last quarter of the 12th century, in the participle's own sense: stuck firmly into a surface, usually of something pointed.^[11] DELI's first record of this sense, “driven in, fixed”, is in Brunetto Latini, who died in 1294.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian fitto was used of things planted in the ground, sunk in water, nailed to the cross, set as gems or posted up as writings, of the stelle fitte, the fixed stars, and figuratively of what is impressed on the mind.^[11] Dante's sullen souls in the fifth circle speak “stuck in the mud” (Fitti nel limo).^[12][6] The old sense “pierced” and the sense “resolute, firm” (Ariosto) have dropped out of use.^[13][4][14]

Nocentini explains the move from “fixed” to “thick, dense” through the senses “welded; closely joined; compact”.^[3] DELI dates “thick, compact, impenetrable” to about 1350, in the Italian translation of Crescenzi, the adverb “without pause, intensely” to 1618 (Francesco Bracciolini) and the noun “the thickest part” to 1650 (Daniello Bartoli).^[2] The doubled fitto fitto works as a superlative, and a capo fitto “head first” gave capofitto.^[4][13]

Among the derivatives, fitta “sudden stab of pain” is recorded from the early 14th century, and fittone “taproot” from before 1606 (Davanzati): DELI explains that the root is so called because it is driven into the ground, and notes Medieval Latin fictone “post” at Modena in 1306.^[2] Infittire “to thicken” followed in 1789.^[3]

Timeline

• 1175–1200 – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur have the first record of fitto.^[11]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses fitto “driven in”.^[2]
• 1300–1321 – Dante's damned are fitti nel limo “stuck in the mud”.^[12][15]
• Early 14th century – Fitta “sudden pain” appears.^[2][3]
• c. 1350 – The translation of Crescenzi has fitto “thick, dense”.^[2]
• Before 1606 – Bernardo Davanzati uses fittone “taproot”.^[2]
• 1618 – Francesco Bracciolini uses fitto as an adverb.^[2]
• 1650 – Daniello Bartoli uses il fitto “the thickest part”.^[2]
• 1789 – Infittire “to thicken” is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Driven in, stuck firmly (with in); figuratively, deeply rooted in the mind: un paletto fitto nella sabbia.^[16][17][4]
2. Made of closely set parts; thick, dense, bushy: una siepe fitta.^{[16][18][17][1]}
3. Thick, heavy, of fog, smoke or liquids; figuratively deep or impenetrable, as in buio fitto and mistero fitto.^[16][18][13]
4. Coming in quick succession, frequent: una fitta serie di telefonate.^[16][18][17]
5. Full, crammed (with di): un quaderno fitto di appunti.^[16][18]
6. (obsolete) pierced;^[13][4][19] (literary, obsolete) resolute, firm.^[13][4][19]

Adverb

1. Without pause, thick and fast; often doubled: grandinava fitto fitto.^[13][4][1]

Noun

1. The thickest part, the depth of something: nel fitto della pineta.^[13][4][1]

Word family

• fitta
• fittamente
• fittezza
• fittone
• infittire
• sfittire
• capofitto

fitto² rent

Pronunciation

• /ˈfit.to/^[1]

Forms

fitto m (plural fitti)^[1]

Etymology

The word for rent is from Italian fitto¹, the adjective used as a noun.^[3][4][19] DELI, Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti take it as short for canone fitto, a rent “fixed” in advance, and Treccani and Gabrielli gloss it as “price fixed”.^{[2][18][17][4][19]}

GRADIT and DEI start instead from Medieval Latin fictum, the price of a lease, recorded in northern Italy in the 10th century and itself the participle meaning “fixed”.^[16][20][21] DELI finds the Medieval Latin noun at Bobbio in the 10th century.^[2] From the Medieval Latin noun came affictare, the source of affittare and affitto.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is an Arezzo document of 1240, where fitto is the letting of a property for payment.^[11] DELI's first Italian record is in the accounts of Pope Nicholas III, 1279–1280.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word named the lease itself, the payment due for it (in money or in kind) and the property let, and by extension the income from a productive property, even wealth in general;^[11] avere, prendere or tenere a fitto was “to take on lease” and dare a fitto “to let”.^[11] Cellini records a contract by which he was to be paid sessantacinque scudi di moneta l'anno di fitto (“sixty-five scudi a year as rent”), and in Manzoni's draft of I promessi sposi a peasant owes the curate twenty-five lire per fitto del suo campo (“as rent for his field”).^[21]

In the 19th century Tommaseo's dictionary noted that fitto was paid for farms and land and pigione for houses and shops.^[6] The old fitto franco was a disguised form of usury: the borrower sold his land to the lender with a right of redemption and leased it back at an excessive rent.^[21][4] The modern fitto bloccato was a rent frozen by law.^[18][4]

The tenant was the fittaiolo from the late 13th century (Fatti di Cesare); fittavolo is a northern word, found as Latin fictavulli in the Visconti chancery (1442–1500), and in Tuscan only in 1721.^[2]

Timeline

• 10th century – Medieval Latin fictum “rent” is recorded at Bobbio.^[2]
• 1240 – An Arezzo document has the first record of fitto.^[11]
• 1279–1280 – The accounts of Pope Nicholas III use fitto.^[2]
• Late 13th century – Fittaiolo “tenant farmer” appears in the Fatti di Cesare.^[2]
• 1721 – Fittavolo appears in a Tuscan document.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lease, the letting of a property for payment; affitto: dare a fitto un magazzino.^[16][18][17]
2. The sum paid for it, the rent: il fitto di questo mese.^{[16][18][17][4]}
3. (obsolete) A farm let out on lease.^[16][13]

Word family

• affitto
• affittare
• fittare
• fittaiolo
• fittavolo
• sfittare
• sfitto
• affittacamere
• subaffittare
• subaffitto
• affittuario