giocattolo

Forms

giocattolo m (plural giocattoli)^[1]

Etymology

DELI and Sabatini–Coletti take it from Venetian: it is borrowed from Venetian zugatolo (“toy”), recorded in A. Calmo's letters about 1566, adapted to the Tuscan form of the base word.^[2][3] Prati had already noted zogàtolo (“toy”) and the verb zogatolar in Boerio's dictionary, and Paduan forms of 1775, and judged the word perhaps of Venetian origin.^[4] In GRADIT it is formed from Italian gioco + -attolo, with the Venetian word for comparison;^[5][6][7] Devoto sees a double diminutive, as in barattolo and scoiattolo.^[5][6][7]

Rigutini, in 1886, took it for a Gallicism, but DELI points out that the Venetian word is older.^[2] The GDLI also finds a derivation from French jouet unclear.^[7] gioco is iocus (“joke, jest”), from Proto-Italic *joko- and Proto-Indo-European *iok-o- (“word, utterance”).^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Carena of 1846, with the sense “object for amusing children”.^[2][5] Carena calls giocattoli a collective name for objects of wood, metal or other material that serve not just to please the eye but to exercise a child's body or mind.^[10] He adds that Tuscan dealers who received crates from a Paris emporium calling itself Bazar de joujoux pour les enfants turned the name into Fiera di giocattoli pei fanciulli.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Tommaseo's dictionary in 1869 marked the word as belonging more to other dialects than to Tuscan, where balocco had more varied senses.^[2][11] Fanfani's Tuscan vocabulary recorded it only in the narrow sense of children's playthings sold by haberdashers.^[2] The word nevertheless replaced its rivals in the standard language.^[2]

Figuratively a giocattolo is a person who lets others manipulate him, as in essere un giocattolo nelle mani di qualcuno.^[5][12][13] Placed after a noun and invariable, it means “toy, not real”: pistola giocattolo.^[5][14][12]

Timeline

• c. 1566 – Venetian zugatolo appears in A. Calmo's letters.^[2][5]
• 1775 – Paduan forms of the word are recorded.^[4]
• 1846 – Carena records giocattolo.^[2]
• 1869 – Tommaseo marks it as more dialectal than Tuscan.^[2]
• 1886 – Rigutini lists it as a Gallicism.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A toy: an object made for children to play with: Il bambino ha lasciato i giocattoli in giardino.^{[5][14][3][1]}
2. (figurative) A person who lets others manipulate him; a puppet.^{[5][14][12][1]}

Adjective

1. (invariable, after a noun) Toy, not real, used only for play: un fucile giocattolo.^{[5][14][12][1]}

Word family

• giocattolaio
• giocattoleria
• giocattolino

Related words

• gioco
• giocare
• balocco
• Venetian zugatolo

Usage notes

Zingarelli notes that giocattolo and gioco are interchangeable for an object one plays with, while balocco and trastullo are now used mostly figuratively.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 504
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 203
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
8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 794
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier