mattone

Forms

mattone m (plural mattoni)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][3] DELI starts from a base ⟨matt-⟩, with a variant ⟨mat-⟩ that the northern forms require, of obscure origin and perhaps also found in place names.^[4] Nocentini sees a Romance formation: it is from Vulgar Latin *mattus (“damp, wet”), through the idea of a mass kneaded with water.^[5] He compares the dialectal French maton, a lump of curdled milk or of flour.^[5][6] The adjective is syncopated from *maditus, from Latin madeō (“to be wet, be drunk”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d- (“wet”).^[1]

Devoto–Oli and the GDLI start instead from *matta (“clod”) with the augmentative suffix -one, and Devoto calls this base a Mediterranean stem meaning “block of earth”, as in the variant motta.^[7][8][9] The GDLI connects it, probably, with Latin maltha (“a kind of cement”), and Treccani and Wiktionary take the word itself, perhaps, from that Latin noun, a borrowing of Ancient Greek μάλθα (máltha).^{[8][10][1][11]} Meyer-Lübke lists it under the same noun but finds the link doubtful, since nothing explains ⟨tt⟩ from ⟨lt⟩.^[12] He explains northern forms with a single ⟨t⟩, such as madon, by the influence of a word formed from Latin petra (“stone”).^[12] Zingarelli calls the word pre-Indo-European, and Prati sets up a base meaning “compact earth”, comparing Sienese ⟨mattello⟩ “clay”.^[13][14]

Older proposals derived it from German Matte, curdled milk, through French according to Zaccaria, or from Latin madidus (“wet”).^[15][16]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Sienese account book of Mattasalà (1233–1243), and its first sense is a building block shaped like a rectangular solid, made of clay paste dried in the sun or baked in a kiln.^[6] DELI's first record is B. Giamboni, before 1292.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the brick also served as a measure of the thickness of a wall, gave its name to a dark red colour, and was used in medicine as a source of heat because it stays warm for a long time.^[6] Manzoni writes of souls and flames a color di mattone (1840–1842), and the invariable adjective after a noun is recorded from Bassani (1962).^[4]

The figurative “weight” appears in Fanfani's avere un mattone sullo stomaco (1863), and the extended sense of a pedantic, boring person or thing in Panzini (1927).^[4] In the plural it was a Tuscan name for the suit of diamonds in French cards.^[7][13] Journalists now use it for the housing market and property as an investment.^[13][10] The diminutive mattonella came to mean a tile for floors and walls (Pascoli, 1908) and a cushion of the billiard table.^[4][5] The word passed into the Romansh of the Engadine as matun.^[12]

Timeline

• 1233–1243 – The Sienese account book of Mattasalà has the word.^[6]
• Before 1292 – B. Giamboni uses mattone.^[4]
• 14th century – Mattonare and amattonare “to pave with bricks” are recorded.^[4]
• 1598 – Florio records mattonelli.^[4]
• 1840–1842 – Manzoni writes a color di mattone.^[4]
• 1863 – Fanfani records avere un mattone sullo stomaco.^[4]
• 1908 – Pascoli uses mattonella for a tile.^[4]
• 1927 – Panzini records the sense “bore”.^[4]
• 1962 – Bassani uses mattone as an adjective of colour.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. brick: a block of baked or sun-dried clay, usually a rectangular solid, full or hollow, used in building.^[2][13][3]
2. (figurative) The real estate sector, property as an investment: molti risparmiatori tornano al mattone.^[2][7][10]
3. (figurative) A heavy weight, especially food that is hard to digest: avere un mattone sullo stomaco, to feel heavy after a meal, or to have something on one's conscience.^[2][10][13]
4. (figurative) A tedious, boring person, book, film or the like.^[2][7][13]
5. (heraldry) A plinth shown in relief.^[2][10]
6. (Tuscany, card games, plural) Diamonds, the suit of French playing cards.^[7][13][1]
7. The dark red colour of baked brick, brick red.^[2][7]

Adjective

1. (invariable, after the noun) Brick-red: una giacca rosso mattone.^[2][3][13]

Word family

• mattonata
• mattoncino
• mattonare
• mattonella
• mattonaia
• mattonaio
• smattonare
• ammattonare
• mattonetto
• mattoniere
• mattonificio

Related words

• malta
• motta
• Latin maltha

Usage notes

The GDLI also records an old Lombard and Piedmontese mattone “boy, lad”, feminine mattona: San Bernardino da Siena noted that in Lombardy el mattone meant the boy.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
7. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 647
15. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
16. ^ Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves