mattatoio

Forms

mattatoio m (plural mattatoi)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian mattare + -toio, from the verb meaning “to kill, slaughter”.^[2][3][1][4] DELI notes that the word belonged to Siena, Ancona and Rome and prevailed over the Florentine ammazzatoio, while macello is still common in small towns.^[5] Devoto saw it as a crossing of Spanish matar (“to kill”) with nouns of the type frantoio.^[6]

The origin of the verb, recorded in 1292 in Bono Giamboni, is disputed.^[5][7] DELI takes it as a learned word from Latin mactō (“to honour the gods; to sacrifice”), formed on mactus of the sacrificial prayers, whose sense went from “to honour” to “to sacrifice a victim” and then “to kill”.^[5] Nocentini rejects this, above all because the /t/ of the Spanish and Portuguese verb cannot continue the Latin /kt/.^[4] He derives the verb from a Vulgar Latin *mattāre (“to strike down with a club”), a variant of *mattiāre, formed on *mattea (“club”), the source of mazza.^[4][7] He also sets aside Corominas's Arabic source, the word for “dead” in the chess call for checkmate, and the FEW's Late Latin mattus (“sad, dejected”), since the verb already means “to kill” in a Latin text of the 8th century.^[4] The same verb is Old French mater (“to strike down”) and Occitan matar.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is from 1864, when A. Livini wrote in Il Borghini that in Perugia calves were not mattate and that none of them reached the mattatoio, explaining it as the slaughterhouse.^[5] GRADIT, Devoto–Oli, Zingarelli and Nocentini date it 1890.^[2][3][8][4]

Semantic evolution

In 1890 the purist C. Arlìa objected that the building where animals are killed should be called macello and not mattatoio, and that a Latinism was not needed when the Italian word was common.^[5][9] The word nonetheless spread: Pirandello writes that every big city was proud of having a fine mattatoio for the poor beasts.^[9]

By extension it names a place of killing and massacre, as in Papini's un mattatoio d'uomini.^[2][9] From the same verb come mattatore, the slaughterman, whose figurative sense of a performer who overshadows everyone else follows Spanish matador, and mattazione (1860).^[5][4]

Timeline

• 1292 – The verb mattare “to kill” is recorded in Bono Giamboni.^[5][7]
• 1864 – A. Livini uses mattatoio in Il Borghini.^[5]
• 1890 – C. Arlìa condemns the word as a needless Latinism.^[5]
• 1942 – Mattatore is recorded in the sense of a dominating personality.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A slaughterhouse, abattoir: a building equipped for slaughtering animals whose meat is used as food, a macello: Il mattatoio della città è stato chiuso negli anni Settanta.^{[2][3][8][10]}
2. (by extension) A place where people are killed, a scene of massacre or carnage.^[2][9]

Related words

• mattare
• mattatore
• mattazione
• ammazzatoio
• macello

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 275
7. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
8. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)