lettore

Forms

lettore m (plural lettori, feminine lettrice)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian lettor, Old Italian lectore and Old Italian letore and Old Italian licturi.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin lector (“reader; one who reads aloud”), the agent noun of legō (“to read”).^{[3][4][5][1][6][7]} The church sense continues Latin use: the word is already in Justin, and Tertullian speaks of it as an established order.^[8] Medieval Latin lector is recorded at Ravenna in 966.^[9]

The same Latin word gave Old French litoir (12th century), French lecteur (14th century), Spanish lector and Portuguese leitor.^[8][3][10] Körting lists leggitore beside it.^[10]

The Latin verb first meant “to gather, collect”; de Vaan traces it to Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to collect”), and compares Ancient Greek λέγω (légō, “to collect, count; speak”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Tuscan text by Andrea da Grosseto, of 1268.^[2][12] The Old Italian senses are a person who reads a text, for himself or to an audience, the reader whom an author addresses, a commentator who explains a text, and the cleric who reads in the liturgy.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Dante addresses his reader in the Paradiso: Pensa, lettor, se quel che qui s'inizia / Non procedesse.^[13][9] Before 1306 Jacopone already used the word for a teacher, who in the schools of the time read and explained the authors; the title lasted until the Renaissance, and padre lettore names a teacher of theology in the schools of the Dominicans and Franciscans.^[9][14][12] The church order of lector is recorded in the 14th century.^[9] GRADIT quotes Manzoni's address to his “twenty-five readers” (i miei venticinque lettori).^[5]

Newer senses follow from the 20th century: a person who reads aloud to someone who cannot (1922, Pirandello), the foreign-language assistant in a university (1942), a device that enlarges microfilm for reading (1963) and a computer input unit (1965).^[9] DEI and the GDLI note that the university sense of French lecteur (1842) was modelled on German Lektor.^[8][15] Today the word also names the player of CDs, DVDs and MP3 files.^[1][12]

Timeline

• 966 – Medieval Latin lector is recorded at Ravenna.^[9]
• 1268 – Andrea da Grosseto uses Italian lettore.^[2][12]
• Before 1306 – Jacopone uses the word for a teacher.^[9][5]
• Before 1321 – Dante addresses the lettor.^[9]
• 14th century – Giovanni dalle Celle uses it for the church order.^[9]
• 1922 – Pirandello uses it for a person who reads to another.^[9]
• 1942 – The university sense “language lecturer” is recorded.^[9]
• 1963 – The word names an optical reading device.^[9]
• 1965 – The word names a data input unit.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A reader: a person who reads, or who reads a given kind of text; the reader an author addresses: un lettore accanito di fantascienza.^{[5][4][16][12][1]}
2. A person who reads aloud to someone who cannot.^[5][4][12]
3. A person who reads texts other than the news on radio, or the voice-over of a documentary.^[5][4][14]
4. A publisher's reader: one who reads and judges manuscripts for a publishing house.^[5][4][17]
5. (Christianity) A lector: formerly a cleric in the minor order of lector; today a cleric or lay person appointed to read Scripture in the liturgy.^{[5][4][12][14]}
6. A university lecturer who gives practical classes in his or her native foreign language.^{[5][4][16][12]}
7. (historical) In medieval universities and schools, a teacher or professor.^[4][16][14]
8. A device that reads data or signals: a player or scanner (lettore CD, lettore ottico).^{[12][18][16][1]}

Word family

• lettorato
• lettoria

Related words

• leggere
• lettura
• lezione
• leggitore
• elettore
• Latin lector

Usage notes

The feminine is lettrice.^[1][4] GRADIT records a separate obsolete lettore “elector”, a clipped form of elettore, from before 1348;^[5][19][13] Giovanni Villani writes of the sette lettori dello 'mperio.^[5][19][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 257
8. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2213
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
16. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
18. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
19. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 8, 996