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letto

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Pronunciation

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

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