gotto

Forms

gotto m (plural gotti)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian goto, Old Italian gocto and the southern Old Italian gottu.^[2] Genoese has Ligurian goto and Piedmontese got.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin guttus (“narrow-necked jug”), through *gottus.^[4][5][1][6] The same word is Old Occitan got and Portuguese goto “throat”, and Catalan got has early records too.^[7][5][4]

The ancients explained the Latin word from gutta (“drop”), because the vessel let wine out a little at a time, and Varro said it was named after the drops.^[4][8] That is a folk etymology.^[4] The Latin word is usually taken from Ancient Greek κώθων (kṓthōn, “drinking cup”).^[5][6][9] Some scholars put Etruscan qutun “jug” between the two, which would account for Latin /u/ for Greek /oː/.^[5] Nocentini prefers a direct adaptation of the Greek word, drawn towards Latin guttur (“throat”), as the Romance senses “throat” suggest.^[5][3]

DELI notes that the short u of Latin does not explain the open /ɔ/ of the Italian word, and Zingarelli assumes interference from some form with o.^[4][10] Redi thought the word came from Venetian, where it is common, but DELI points to older records outside the Veneto, Old Genoese goto among them.^[4][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Neapolitan Regimen Sanitatis of the 13th century, where gotto is a drinking glass, often a large one, with or without a handle.^[2] DELI dates the word to the 14th century in Francesco di Vannozzo, and its use for the glass's contents to Nicolao di Costantinopoli in the same century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the glass could also be a measure of liquid, and by metonymy its contents.^[2] Francesco di Vannozzo speaks of a flask con do gotti (with two glasses), and the vernacular Plutarch lists cups, gotti and silver beakers carried in procession.^[8][11]

Redi described gotto as the same as bicchiere and a word lent by the Venetians.^[11][4] In Venice it was also an old unit of capacity for liquids, of about 1.9 litres.^[12][6] On ships a gotto was a wooden tub into which water from the bilge was poured.^[6][12][13] Today the word is regional, above all Venetian, for a large glass or mug, often with a handle.^[12][10][6]

Timeline

• 13th century – The Neapolitan Regimen Sanitatis has the first record.^[2]
• 14th century – Francesco di Vannozzo uses gotto for a drinking glass.^[4]
• 14th century – Nicolao di Costantinopoli uses it for the contents of a glass.^[4]
• 14th century – Gottazza, the bailer for a boat, is recorded.^[5]
• 1798 – The variant votazza is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (regional, especially Venetian) A large drinking glass or mug, usually with a handle and no foot.^[6][12][10]
2. The contents of such a glass, especially wine: Alla fine del lavoro bevvero un gotto di vino rosso.^[6][13][9]
3. (archaic) Any drinking glass.^[12][14]
4. (metrology, historical) An old Venetian unit of capacity for liquids, of about 1.9 litres.^[12][6]
5. (nautical, historical) A wooden tub that held the bilge water bailed out with the gottazza.^[6][12][13]

Word family

• gottazza
• votazza
• aggottare
• sgottare

Related words

• gozzo
• Latin guttus

References

1. ^ a b c 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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1849
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana