ghiottone

Forms

ghiottone m (plural ghiottoni, feminine ghiottona)^[1] Old Italian and dialect forms include glotone, Old Italian giottoni, Old Italian ghiutuni and Old Italian jotom.^[2] The feminine is ghiottona.^[1][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin gluttō (“glutton”), from the accusative form.^[4][5][1][6] The GDLI notes that the double /tt/ marks it as a popular word, and quotes Isidore of Seville, who explains gluttō from gula (“throat”).^[7] Zingarelli, Sabatini–Coletti and Gabrielli link it with guttur (“throat”).^[8][9][10] De Vaan sees an onomatopoeic formation of the shape ⟨*gul-⟩ / ⟨*glu-⟩, the same as in gluttiō (“to swallow”) and ingluviēs (“gullet”);^[11][1] Wiktionary compares Proto-Slavic *glъtati (“to swallow”).^[11][1]

The same Latin word gave French glouton (11th century), Spanish glotón (13th century) and Catalan glotó.^[12][7] Tommaseo treats the word as an augmentative of ghiotto.^[13]

The zoological sense was formed in the 18th century: it translates the New Latin genus name Gulo (1775), given to the animal for its voracity, and follows the French and English words for a glutton.^[14][3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur of the last quarter of the 12th century, in the sense of someone who sins by gluttony and eats greedily and without measure.^[2] DELI quotes the 14th-century Libro di Sydrac: “those who eat more than they should... are called ghiottoni”.^[15]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the word as an insult for a dishonest person, thief or swindler.^[2] Boccaccio's Decameron has the worst abuse “that was ever said to any ghiottone”, and Dante's proverb ne la chiesa / coi santi, e in taverna coi ghiottoni (Inferno XXII) is probably meant in this sense.^[13][16] The sense “rogue” is now archaic.^[3][5]

In 1772 the Italian translation of Buffon's natural history used ghiottone for the wolverine, and in 1824 Melchiorre Gioia wrote that it gorges itself on meat so recklessly that it sometimes chokes.^[15]

Timeline

• 1175–1200 – First record, in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur.^[2]
• 14th century – The Libro di Sydrac uses the word for gluttons.^[15]
• 1772 – The sense “wolverine” appears in the Italian Buffon.^[15]
• 1775 – The New Latin genus name Gulo is given to the wolverine.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A glutton, someone very greedy for food.^[5][3][8]
2. (archaic) A rogue, scoundrel.^[5][3][9]
3. (zoology) The wolverine (Gulo gulo), a heavily built carnivore of the weasel family, about a metre long with thick dark brown fur, living in the cold forests of northern Europe, Asia and America.^[5][3][16]

Word family

• ghiottoneria
• ghiottoncello
• inghiottonire

Related words

• ghiotto
• inghiottire
• Latin gluttō
• French glouton

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 498
7. ^ 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. 6, 742
8. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
11. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1800
15. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)