letto

Forms

letto m (plural letti or (Old Italian) letta, diminutive lettìno or lettùccio or letticciòlo, augmentative (uncommon) lettóne, pejorative lettàccio)^[1] Old Italian also had the feminine plural le letta, recorded from 1278.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lectus (“bed, couch”).^[2][3][4][1] The word is common to the Romance languages except Romanian: French lit, Occitan liech, Catalan llit, Spanish lecho and Portuguese leito; in Spain it competes with cama.^[3][5][6]

The Latin noun belongs to the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”), which Latin otherwise lost; related words are Ancient Greek λέχος (lékhos, “bed”), λέκτρον (léktron), Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌲𐍂𐍃 (ligrs, “bed”), Old Irish lige (“bed”) and Old Church Slavonic ложе (lože, “bed”).^[3][7] De Vaan explains it either as a noun “lain upon” or as an old ⟨tu⟩-stem “lying” that later passed to the ⟨o⟩-stems.^[8] The same Latin noun gave lettiga.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is before 1250 in Cielo d'Alcamo, for the piece of furniture to sleep on; as an inherited word it is found earlier in the Latin of medieval documents, at Rome in 1035 and in Emilia in the 12th century.^[2] Nocentini also dates it before 1250.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses letto for the bed of a river or sea (1300–1313), and in the 14th century it is also any flat base on which something lies or moves.^[2] In the figurative sense “marriage” Giovanni dalle Celle wrote before 1396 that adultery “è una violazione del letto altrui” (is a violation of another's bed); hence figlio di primo letto “child of the first marriage”.^[2][9] The geological sense is recorded before 1798 and divano-letto “sofa bed” in 1923.^[2]

Some phrases are older than Italian: letto di dolore renders the Latin lectus doloris, and the letto di spine “bed of thorns” was formed in contrast to the letto di rose, a figure going back to the use of roses at ancient banquets.^[2] Guardare il letto “to keep to one's bed” is a calque on French garder le lit.^[6] English slang borrowed the word as letty “bed, lodging” in 1846.^[10]

Timeline

• 1035 – A Latin document from Rome uses the inherited word.^[2]
• Before 1250 – Cielo d'Alcamo uses letto.^[2]
• 1278 – The plural letta is recorded.^[2]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses it for the bed of a river or sea.^[2]
• Before 1396 – Giovanni dalle Celle uses it for marriage.^[2]
• 1846 – English slang letty “bed” is recorded.^[10]
• 1923 – Divano-letto “sofa bed” appears.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. bed, the piece of furniture for sleeping and resting: Stasera vado a letto presto.^[4][11][12]
2. By extension, anything used as a bed: Dormirono su un letto di paglia.^[4][12][2]
3. (colloquial) A period in bed through illness.^[4]
4. Bedding for animals.^[4][12]
5. A layer on which something is laid, also in cooking: gamberi su un letto di rucola.^[4][12]
6. The bed of a river or stream; the bottom of the sea or of a valley.^[4][12][1]
7. (figurative) Marriage: figlio di secondo letto.^[2][11][9]

Word family

• lettiera
• lettino
• lettone
• lettuccio
• lettaccio
• copriletto
• lettime

Related words

• giaciglio
• lettiga
• Latin lectus

Usage notes

Letto is also the past participle of leggere “to read”, from Latin lectus, the participle of legere;^[2][4][13] DELI dates its adjectival use “interpreted, understood” to Tasso in 1582.^[2][4][13] Phrases include andare a letto “to go to bed”, andare a letto con qualcuno “to sleep with someone” and letto a castello “bunk bed”.^[4][9]

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 l m n o p q 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 d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2212
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 257
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
10. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli