martello

Forms

martello m (plural martelli)^[1] Old Italian also had maltello, with old plurals martegli and le martella.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin martellus (“hammer”), recorded from the 6th–7th century, a form parallel to Latin marculus, the diminutive of marcus (“hammer”).^[4][5][6] DELI and the GDLI label it a learned word, while DEI calls it a popular diminutive.^[4][2][7] Isidore of Seville distinguished three sizes of hammer, naming the large one with the base noun, the middling one with the Late Latin form and the small one with the diminutive.^[4][2] Others take the Late Latin word as the diminutive of martulus, itself a variant of the form for the small hammer.^{[8][9][1][10]}

The word belongs to Italian and western Romance: French marteau (Old French martel, 12th century), Occitan martel, Catalan martell, Spanish martillo and Portuguese martelo, with Sardinian marteddu and Friulian martiel.^{[6][2][11][7]}

Nocentini and the OLD reconstruct it as an older ⟨*mal-tlos⟩, from the same root as malleus (“hammer”), the source of maglio.^[6][12] Devoto takes it as a dissimilation of an older ⟨*maltulus⟩ and thinks the word for the large hammer may have been made from the diminutives, citing an extension in ⟨-t-⟩ of the same root in Slavic.^[10] Wiktionary reports several reconstructions from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to grind”), de Vaan favouring ⟨*molH-tlo-⟩.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first Italian record is in Dante, 1304–1308, for the tool used to strike, drive nails and beat on chisels.^[4][5] Dante compares a craft to the smith's: come dal fabbro l'arte del martello (“as from the smith the art of the hammer”).^[13]

Semantic evolution

By about 1350, in the vernacular Crescenzi, the word was used for objects shaped or working like a hammer, such as a door knocker or a bell clapper.^[4][5] Sonare a martello, of a bell striking one stroke after another, is in G. Villani.^[14][4] In the figurative sense of torment or passion, especially love's, it passed into French as martel (1558), whence mettre martel en tête “to worry” (1718).^[15][16]

The anatomical sense, the outermost ossicle of the middle ear, appears in G. B. Marino in 1607–1614, and the athletics hammer in the Enciclopedia italiana in 1934.^[4] In Corsica martello named a coastal watchtower against pirates, the source of the English martello tower (1794, 1803); German borrowed Martell in 1838.^[16] Recent uses include the volleyball spiker and, in slang, a pest or a man who courts every woman he meets.^[5]

Timeline

• 500s–600s – Late Latin martellus is recorded.^[4]
• 1287 – The derivative martellina is recorded in Florence.^[4]
• 1302–1305 – Giordano da Pisa uses martellare.^[4]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses martello.^[4][5]
• c. 1350 – The vernacular Crescenzi uses martello for hammer-like objects.^[4]
• 1558 – French martel “worry” is recorded.^[16]
• 1607–1614 – G. B. Marino uses martello for the ear ossicle.^[4]
• 1803 – English martello tower is recorded.^[16]
• 1934 – The Enciclopedia italiana records the athletics hammer.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hammer: a tool with a metal head on a wooden handle, used for striking, breaking and driving nails.^[5][8][3]
2. An object shaped or working like a hammer, such as a door knocker, a bell's clapper or a piano hammer.^[5][3][1]
3. (figurative) A nagging source of anxiety or torment: il martello del rimorso.^[5][17]
4. (athletics) The hammer thrown in the hammer throw (lancio del martello).^[5][18]
5. (volleyball, slang) A player who is especially strong at spiking.^[5]
6. (anatomy) The malleus, the outermost ossicle of the middle ear.^[5][17]
7. (history) A medieval war hammer.^[5][3]
8. (slang) A tiresome, insistent person; a man who persistently courts every woman he meets.^[5]

Word family

• martellare
• martellata
• martelletto
• martellina
• martellio
• martellamento
• martellatura
• martellino
• martellinare

Related words

• maglio
• Latin malleus
• French marteau

Usage notes

Common phrases include tra l'incudine e il martello (between a rock and a hard place), falce e martello (hammer and sickle), martello pneumatico (pneumatic drill) and pesce martello (hammerhead shark).^[8][9][18]

In the north, martello is also a regional name for box (Buxus sempervirens), compare Piedmontese and Milanese martèl.^[19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2376
8. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
10. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
15. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
16. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
17. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
18. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
19. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9, 845