lottatore

Forms

lottatore m (plural lottatori, feminine lottatrice)^[1] The oldest form is Old Italian luttatore.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin luctātor (“wrestler”), the agent noun of luctor (“to wrestle, struggle”).^{[5][6][7][8][9]} The GDLI calls it a learned word.^[10] The TLIO and Wiktionary instead derive it from lottare with the suffix -tore, or give both explanations.^[3][1]

Latin luctor goes back to Proto-Italic *lukto- and Proto-Indo-European *lug-to- (“bent”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the form luttatore in the Tuscan translation of the Scala del Paradiso (the Ladder of Paradise), from the middle of the 14th century, in a figurative sense, a stimulus to act.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The modern form appears in Annibal Caro, before 1566: chi ha forza di stringere e di fermar l'avversario, è lottatore (“whoever has the strength to grip and pin down his opponent is a wrestler”).^[2][10] From the 16th century on the word mostly named the athlete, often those of antiquity, such as Milo of Croton, whom nobody could move when he stood firm.^[10]

Tommaseo gives figurative uses and the sense “combatant”.^[12] Today it also means anyone who fights doggedly in his work or for his principles.^[6][7]

Timeline

• Mid-14th century – Luttatore appears in the Tuscan Scala del Paradiso.^[3][2]
• Before 1566 – Annibal Caro uses the form lottatore for a wrestler.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (sports) A wrestler, an athlete who practises wrestling.^[6][7][4]
2. (figurative) A fighter: someone who fights tenaciously in his work or for his ideas: in politica è sempre stata una lottatrice.^[6][7][4]

Adjective

1. Who fights or struggles.^[13][14]

Related words

• lottare
• lotta
• Latin luctator

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
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. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli