Etymologically
Log in

gatto

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Italian word gatto

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1190, Raimbaut de Vaqueiras
Inherited from
Latin cattus
Ultimate origin
Late Latin cattus

Pronunciation

Forms

gatto m (plural gatti, feminine gatta, diminutive gattìno, augmentative gattóne, pejorative gattàccio or gattonàccio, derogatory gattùccio)[1] Old Italian also wrote gacto and gato.[2] The older catto survives at Velletri and Castel Madama in Lazio.[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin cattus, with its feminine catta and the manuscript variants gattus and gatta.[5][6][7][1] The Late Latin word, first in Palladius in the 4th century, replaced classical Latin fēlēs, probably when the domestic cat reached Rome; in Palladius it may still have meant the wildcat or the polecat.[5][3] The initial /g/ is a Tuscan voicing of /k/ before /a/, as in gabbia; forms with /k/ are typical of Gallo-Romance and rare in Italy.[8][9][3] The word is panromance except Romanian: French chat, Occitan gat, Catalan gat, Spanish gato, Portuguese gato and Sardinian battu.[6][10][3]

The origin of the Latin word is obscure.[5][11] Since the domestic cat came from North Africa, Nocentini and DEI compare words of Nubian and of Berber (kaddiska) as possible sources, perhaps reaching Latin through Egypt.[6][12] Trumper tried to connect it with Latin catus (“sharp”) and catulus (“whelp”), which may at least have influenced its form.[6] Meyer-Lübke and Walde thought it Celtic, a view Körting rejected and the LEI calls problematic, while Corominas thought of a call to the animal.[10][13][3] From Latin the word spread to Old Irish catt, Welsh cath, Old English catte, Old High German kazza and Lithuanian katė.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Genoese verse of the Contrasto of Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, about 1190;[2][6][5] DELI cites the 13th-century Detto del gatto lupesco.[2][6][5] In early texts the feminine gatta was preferred when the sex did not matter, as it was in Latin.[5]

Semantic evolution

The first sure record of a house cat in Latin is in John the Deacon's life of Gregory the Great, whose only possession was a she-cat he kept in his lap.[3] Already in Latin the name was given to a siege engine: Vegetius says the barbarians called cattae what the ancients called vineae.[5] Italian gatto had this sense before 1292 in Bono Giamboni, and later meant the top of a galley mast (1528, Paolo Giovio) and a pile driver (1798).[5] DEI notes old figurative senses such as “peasant”, “sly person”, “womanizer” and “thief”, of which the last ones survive.[12] In the dialects the word names caterpillars and the catkins of willow and hazel.[10]

Phrases with the animal grew up early: gatta ci cova (1523–24, Firenzuola), una gatta da pelare (1557, Annibal Caro), gattamorta.[5] Gattomammone, a fairy-tale monster, contains mammone “monkey”, from Arabic maimūn.[5] In the 20th century English gave gatto selvaggio, a wildcat strike (American English since 1943), and gatto delle nevi, a snowcat.[5][14] The adjective gattopardesco (1963) comes from Tomasi di Lampedusa's novel Il Gattopardo.[5][6]

Timeline

  • c. 1190 – Raimbaut de Vaqueiras has the first record.[2]
  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses gatto for a siege engine.[5]
  • Late 13th century – The Novellino uses gatta.[5]
  • Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses gattaiola, the cat flap.[5]
  • 1523–1524 – Firenzuola writes gatta ci cova.[5]
  • 1528 – Paolo Giovio uses gatto for the top of a galley mast.[5]
  • 1798 – D'Alberti records the sense “pile driver”.[5]
  • 1963 – Gattopardesco is recorded.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. cat, the domestic feline; also a male cat, a tomcat (feminine gatta): Il gatto dorme sul divano tutto il giorno.[7][11][1]
  2. (zoology) Any of various small wild felines: gatto selvatico, the wildcat.[7][11][15]
  3. (history, military) A medieval siege engine like a battering ram, with a roof.[7][11][16]
  4. (nautical, historical) The top of a galley mast.[16][4]
  5. (uncommon) A pile driver.[7][16][8]
  6. Gatto delle nevi: a tracked vehicle for grooming ski runs, a snowcat.[16]
  7. Gatto selvatico: an offshore drilling platform, sciopero a gatto selvaggio, a wildcat strike.[16][4]

Word family

  • gatta
  • gattino
  • gattaiola
  • sgattaiolare
  • gattamorta
  • gattoni
  • gattonare
  • gatteggiare
  • gatteggiamento
  • gattomammone
  • gattopardo
  • gattopardesco
  • gattuccio
  • Latin cattus
  • French chat
  • English cat

Usage notes

Set phrases: essere quattro gatti (to be very few), essere come cane e gatto (to be always quarrelling), gatto a nove code (cat-o'-nine-tails), and the proverb quando il gatto non c'è i topi ballano.[11][15][16] Pesce gatto is the catfish.[8][15]

A minor homograph is gatto, an old armed barge, a Venetian vessel of a hundred oars, and in the 19th century a Baltic merchant ship;[12] DEI compares Medieval Latin catta (1175), Old French chat and English cat (1509) for such ships, and calls the relation between them uncertain.[12]

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 Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 13, 76
  4. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  8. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  10. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  11. ^ 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
  12. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1772
  13. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 612
  15. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  16. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli

Related etymologies

  • no · also from Latin
  • cosa · also from Latin
  • a · also from Latin
  • mio · also from Latin
  • uno · also from Latin
  • si · also from Latin
  • sapere · also from Latin
  • fare · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Gatto.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/gatto. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·