grata

Forms

grata f (plural grate)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin crātis (“wickerwork, hurdle”), from the accusative crātem, moved into the common class of feminine nouns in ⟨-a⟩ but keeping its gender.^[2][3][1] Wiktionary allows for Vulgar Latin *grātem as the intermediate form.^[1] The initial /k/ became /g/, a voicing not rare in Tuscan before /r/, which Devoto compares with gabbia.^[4][5] The word was technical in Latin and used mostly in the plural, and in Italy it lives on chiefly in the northern dialects.^[6][7]

The same word is Romanian gratie (“hurdle”), Lombard grat (“wickerwork”), Friulian grade, Spanish grada and Portuguese grade.^[8][3] Its diminutive Latin crātīcula gave graticola.^[2][3]

The origin of the Latin word is unclear, and it is compared with Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳𐍃 (haurds, “door”), Old High German hurd (“hurdle”) and Old Prussian corto (“fence”); de Vaan finds no PIE root with a fitting meaning and thinks the correspondence may be non-Indo-European.^[9][1] Others derive it from Proto-Indo-European *kert- (“to weave, twist together”), a link de Vaan rejects.^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Tuscan poem L'Intelligenza, from the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, for a structure of crossed bars or slats separating two spaces.^[10] DELI and GRADIT date grata to Boccaccio, 1348–1353, for a window grating of crossed bars of iron or wood;^[2][11] Dante had used grada for a gridiron, and Medieval Latin grata is recorded at Piacenza in 1266.^[2][11]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian forms include crata, grada, grae and grate.^[10] Besides the screen that lets people talk but not touch, the TLIO records a fence, a frame of woven twigs for drying crops, and the gridiron of torture, above all that of Saint Lawrence: Pulci writes Vedete in su la grata pazïente / Lorenzo (“see on the grid the patient Lawrence”).^[10][12]

The grating took on a special role in the churches of convents, where it divided the nuns' choir and parlour from the public; today it is used mainly in prisons and strongrooms, and as a safety screen for ground-floor windows.^[12]

Timeline

• 1266 – Medieval Latin grata is recorded at Piacenza.^[2]
• Late 13th or early 14th century – L'Intelligenza has the first Italian record.^[10]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses grada for a gridiron.^[2]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses grata for a window grating.^[2][11]
• 1499 – The diminutive gratella appears in the Ricettario fiorentino.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A grating or grille: a screen of crossed bars of metal or wood closing a window, door or other opening while letting in air and light: Dietro la grata della cella si vedeva un po' di cielo.^{[11][13][4][1]}
2. Any similar structure, such as a perforated metal plate or the grille of a confessional.^[11][13][12]
3. (uncommon) A gridiron for cooking, the same as a gratella.^[11][4]

Word family

• gratella

Related words

• graticola
• graticolato
• graticcio
• Latin crātis

Usage notes

Grata is not the feminine of the adjective grato “grateful”, which comes from Latin grātus.^[4][1] Lombard gra “instep” has been traced to the Latin anatomical phrase cratis spinae.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1863
7. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier