mota

Forms

mota f (plural mote)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin maltha (“bitumen, cement”), through a northern dialect form *mauta.^[2][3][4][5] It is a doublet of malta “mortar”.^[3][1] DEI takes it from Emilian, where Piacenza has Emilian mota “mud”.^[6][7] Devoto explains the vowel as the northwestern change of /alt/ to /aut/, which Tuscan then turned into /ot/.^[8] Wiktionary instead has the /l/ vocalised in Tuscan itself before the first texts, with /au/ becoming /ɔ/ as in oro from aurum.^[1] Wiktionary mentions a less likely Germanic origin, akin to the English word mud.^[1] Tommaseo had compared German, French and Greek words.^[9]

The Latin word is borrowed from Ancient Greek μάλθα (máltha), a soft coating.^[10][1] The same word gave Engadine molta and Old Occitan mauta, and Italian motriglia “mud” is derived from it.^[7][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in G. Villani, before 1348, for mud or mire.^[2] Tommaseo quotes his description of a flood that left the streets, houses and vaults of Florence full of water and stinking mud (piene d'acqua, e di puzzolente mota).^[9] Zingarelli dates the word before 1328, and Nocentini dates the adjective motoso before 1313.^[12][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the word also appears in the commentaries on Dante, where the proud lie for ever in the mud and the stench, and in a poem of Sacchetti.^[9] The adjective motoso “muddy” is recorded in Davanzati and in Florio (1598); motaccio meant soft and tender in Casti (1787).^[2][6]

Today mota is Tuscan and literary for the sticky mud of unpaved roads after rain.^{[4][5][12][13]} It can stand for fango in some of its figurative uses, and Gabrielli records pezzo di mota, a despicable person.^[13][14]

Timeline

• Before 1313 – Nocentini's date for motoso.^[3]
• Before 1328 – Zingarelli's date for mota.^[12]
• Before 1348 – G. Villani uses mota.^[2][15]
• 1598 – Florio records motoso.^[2]
• 1787 – Casti uses motaccio.^[6]
• 1869 – Moticchio is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Tuscany, literary) Mud, especially the soft mud of unpaved roads after rain: Dopo il temporale i campi erano tutti una mota.^{[4][5][15][13]}
2. (figurative) Filth; in pezzo di mota, a despicable person.^[13][14]

Word family

• motoso
• motaccia
• moticchio

Related words

• malta
• motriglia
• Latin maltha

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2519
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 289
9. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ a b De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET