motto

Forms

motto m (plural motti)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin muttum (“a mutter, a grunt”), a learned word in DELI's account: the Latin noun is recorded around 420 in Saint Jerome, and it is a deverbal noun from muttiō (“to speak in a low voice”), which is of onomatopoeic origin.^[2][3][4] DELI adds that the sense “word” belongs to French mot, used so from the 12th century, and that the dates at which this sense turns up in Italian confirm that it came from French.^[2] Meyer-Lübke and Körting go further and treat the whole Italian word as a loan from French, as are Spanish mote and Portuguese mote.^[5][6] Nocentini lists it as a Latin formation, cognate with the French, Occitan and Catalan word for “word”,^[7] and Wiktionary calls it inherited from Latin.^[1] Prati starts from a popular Vulgar Latin *mottum, an imitative change of the Late Latin word,^[8] and Devoto saw a cross with the French word and a northern vowel.^[9]

In Latin grammarians and glossaries the noun named the smallest sound a speaker can make, comparable to the Italian phrase ⟨non dire né a né ba⟩ “to say nothing at all”, while the verb is well attested.^[7] Both belong with mūtus (“mute”), from an onomatopoeic base ⟨mu-⟩.^[7] Wiktionary describes the noun as a back-formation from the verb and links the base with a possible Proto-Indo-European *mū- (“lips, muzzle”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest dated use is in the sense “word, phrase, utterance”, before 1250.^[10][11] DELI's earliest sense is “a short sententious phrase”, in Latini before 1294, and it dates the sense “witty saying” to Dante, before 1321.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used motto both for a witty or cutting remark and, in phrases such as far motto “to speak” and non far motto “to keep silent”, for a mere word.^[2][12] Dante complains that preachers now go about “with jests and buffoonery” (con motti e con iscede).^[13][14] Boccaccio's Decameron says that a good motto should bite the listener as a sheep bites, not as a dog, or it is not a motto but an insult.^[13][14] The word also named a short popular poem, and its diminutive mottetto became a term of poetry (1314, Francesco da Barberino) and then of music, a piece for several voices (14th century, mottetti in Bernardino da Siena, 1427).^[2][7]

Later senses are a maxim taken as a rule of life and a phrase on a coat of arms or under a publisher's device.^[3][12] English motto is recorded from the 1580s in the sense of a phrase attached to an emblem,^[15] 1589 in the OED's dating of the “short sententious phrase”, and 1600 in heraldry;^[11] German has Motto from 1717.^[11] Wiktionary lists loans in Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Hungarian, Japanese, Hebrew and other languages.^[1] Motto d'ordine “password”, recorded in 1890 as a military term, follows French mot d'ordre.^[16]

Timeline

• Before 1250 – Motto is first recorded, meaning “word, phrase”.^[10][11]
• Before 1294 – Latini uses it for a short sententious phrase.^[2]
• 1314 – Francesco da Barberino uses the diminutive mottetto for a short witty poem.^[2][7]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses motto for a witty saying.^[2]
• Before 1342 – Cavalca uses motteggiare “to jest”.^[2]
• 1427 – Bernardino da Siena speaks of mottetti, pieces of music for voices.^[2]
• 1580s – English borrows motto.^[15]
• 1717 – German Motto is first recorded.^[11]
• Before 1764 – Algarotti uses motto in the literary sense “word”.^[2]
• 1890 – Motto d'ordine “password” is recorded as a military term.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A witty or pointed remark, a quip;^[3][17][12] motto di spirito, a joke, often with a double meaning.^[3][17][12]
2. A short sententious phrase stating a rule of conduct or programme of a person, family or community; a maxim, motto: Il motto della nostra scuola è scritto sopra il portone.^[3][17][12]
3. (heraldry) A phrase written on a forked, flowing scroll below the shield, or sometimes on it.^[3][12]
4. The legend that goes with the allegorical device of a publisher or printer.^[3][12]
5. (literary) A word or utterance, chiefly in set phrases: non fare motto, to say nothing;^[3][17][18] senza fare motto, without a word.^[3][17][18]
6. (archaic) A short poem of popular character; also the words of a song.^[3][12]

Word family

• motteggiare
• motteggio
• motteggiatore
• motteggiamento
• mottetto

Related words

• muto
• French mot
• Latin muttum
• English motto

Usage notes

Motto and facezia are near synonyms, but a facezia is a short witty story rather than a single phrase.^[10] Battaglia records two other words spelled motto: an old variant of mozzo “hub of a wheel”, in Alberti,^[19] and a regional masculine of motta “large clod”.^[19] Tommaseo notes an old motto “moment”, which he could read as “in a word” in Brunetto Latini.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
7. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c d e Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
14. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
16. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2521
17. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
18. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
19. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 11