monte

Forms

monte m (plural monti)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin mōns (“mountain”), continuing the accusative ⟨montem⟩.^[2][3][4][1] DELI and GRADIT write the vowel short, Nocentini long.^[2][4][3] The DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance masculine with an open vowel, /ˈmɔnte/, which kept its gender against the general drift of third-declension nouns to the feminine.^[5]

The word is found in every Romance language: French mont, Occitan mont, Catalan mont (with munt (“heap”)), Spanish monte, Portuguese monte, Sardinian monte and Romanian munte.^[3][6][5] Being short, it lost ground almost everywhere to the descendants of a longer form, the ancestor of Italian montagna.^[5]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *monti-, from Proto-Indo-European *mon-ti- (“protrusion, height”).^[7] Nocentini derives it from the root Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to rise, jut out”), the source too of mineō (“to jut out”) and mentum (“chin”).^[3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Breve di Montieri of 1219, with the sense “a great mass of rock and earth rising high above sea level”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “a great heap, a large amount” is in the Novellino at the end of the 13th century.^[2] Latin had already used the word for a heap of things.^[9] From the idea of a heap where things accumulate came the sense “fund, capital”: in the Middle Ages a monte was a place or institution collecting money or goods, which grew into a public body with banking functions.^[3][4] DELI explains the monte di pietà, the pawnbroking institution (1534, Pietro Aretino), from the old sense “to add up” of montare.^[2]

In card games monte is the heap of discarded cards (before 1686).^[2] Nocentini traces andare a monte and mandare a monte, “to come to nothing” and “to call off”, to the heap of cards of players who give up the game;^[3][2] DELI does not rule out an origin in Florentine finance of 1495.^[3][2] The old phrase a monte “upstream, towards the top” has had a figurative use since the 1960s, “at the source of a matter”.^[2] Promettere mari e monti, to promise the earth, is already Latin, in Sallust.^[2]

Anatomical senses are the monte di Venere, the pubic mound, and in palmistry the swellings of the palm.^[3][4] In German Monte was a loan on property (1876).^[10]

Timeline

• 1219 – Monte “mountain” appears in the Breve di Montieri.^[2][3]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses it for a great quantity.^[2]
• 1470 – Monte “bank” appears in the records of the Florentine councils.^[2]
• 1534 – Pietro Aretino has monte della pietà.^[2]
• Before 1686 – It names the discarded cards in a game.^[2]
• 1839 – Carlo Cattaneo uses it for a pool of money from stakes.^[2]
• 1950 – Monte premi, the prize fund of a lottery, is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mountain: a relief of the earth's crust higher than about 600 metres, alone or in a chain: valicare il monte.^[4][11][12]
2. In place names, joined to the name (Monte Bianco), sometimes shortened (Monviso).^[4][13]
3. (figurative) A great quantity, a heap: un monte di lettere.^[4][13]
4. (card games) The stock left after dealing; the pile of discarded cards.^[4][2]
5. (historical) A medieval fund or institution collecting money or goods, later a public body with banking or charitable functions;^[4][2] monte di pietà, a pawnshop.^[4][2]
6. (palmistry) Each of the seven swellings of the palm of the hand.^[4][14]

Word family

• montagna
• montano
• montanaro
• montanino
• montuoso
• monticello
• monticare
• ammontare
• montebianco

Related words

• montare
• mento
• Latin mōns

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include a monte “upstream; at the origin of a matter”, andare a monte “to fall through” and mandare a monte “to call off”.^[4][15][3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 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 e f g h i j k Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2503
10. ^ Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
15. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli