garretto

Forms

garretto m (plural garretti)^[1] The variant garetto is also current.^[2][3][4] Old forms include Old Italian garecto, Old Italian garicta and Old Italian guarecte.^[5] There are Piedmontese garèt and Piedmontese giarèt, the second taken from French.^[6]

Etymology

It is a diminutive in -etto: it is from Vulgar Latin *garra (“part of the leg”), a Celtic word.^[6][7][4][1] Nocentini traces it to Gaulish *garra, which must have entered Vulgar Latin before Gaulish died out in the 5th century AD, since it spread through Gallo-Romance and Italo-Romance.^[8] Its Celtic source is shown indirectly by Welsh gar (“thigh”)^[9] and Breton gar (“calf of the leg”).^[8][9] Wiktionary takes the Gaulish word from Proto-Celtic *garros (“shank, leg calf”).^[1]

The same base gave Old Occitan garra (“hollow of the knee”) and French jarret (“back of the knee”), from which Spanish jarrete and Portuguese jarrete were borrowed.^[9][8] In Italy it gave garrese, the withers, and dialect words for the leg and heel such as Neapolitan garrese, Lombard garon and Sardinian karrone (“heel”).^[9][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Giacomino da Verona's Babilonia in the second half of the 13th century, for the back part of a person's lower leg: i ocli e la bocca, le coxe e li gariti (“the eyes and the mouth, the thighs and the hocks”).^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

In the Italian translation of Crescenzi, around 1350, the word names the hock of a quadruped, the region of the hind leg built on the bones of the tarsus.^[6][5] Both senses have lasted: the hock of horses and cattle is now the main one, while the human sense, the back of the ankle, is popular.^[7][2][3]

The human sense gave figurative uses: avere garretti d'acciaio “to have legs of steel” is said of someone strong and tireless in running.^[4][7][10] Sports journalism uses garretti for the legs of athletes.^[2] Corda del garretto is the Achilles tendon.^[4] The verb sgarrettare, formed with the privative prefix s-, is recorded from the 16th century.^[8]

Timeline

• 1250–1300 – Giacomino da Verona uses gariti for a person's lower leg.^[6][5]
• Before 1320 – First record of the standard form, according to GRADIT and Nocentini.^[7][8]
• c. 1350 – The translation of Crescenzi uses the word for the hock of quadrupeds.^[6]
• Before 1406 – Buti uses it for the back of a person's ankle.^[6]
• 16th century – Sgarrettare is first recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (zoology, veterinary) The hock: the joint of a quadruped's hind leg between the tibia and the tarsus, especially in horses and cattle.^{[7][2][4][11]}
2. (popular) In people, the back of the ankle, or the lower leg between the heel and the calf: avere garretti d'acciaio, to have strong, tireless legs.^[7][3][4]
3. (sports journalism) The legs of an athlete or team, in literal and figurative uses.^[2]

Word family

• sgarrettare

Related words

• garrese
• French jarret

Usage notes

Corda del garretto is the Achilles tendon, and garretto chiuso is a phrase of horse anatomy.^[4][7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
6. ^ 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
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 d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
11. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)