noto

Forms

noto (feminine nota, masculine plural noti, feminine plural note, superlative notissimo)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin nōtus (“known; informed”), the past participle of nōscō (“to get to know”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The verb was less used than its compound cognōscō, the source of conoscere.^[2][3]

The older Latin form gnōtus shows the root, Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”), also present in ignaro and ignorare.^[3][1] Nocentini compares Ancient Greek γνωτός (gnōtós) and German kund, the German word from the zero grade of the root, all meaning “known”.^[3] De Vaan reconstructs the Latin present as Proto-Italic *gnōskō and the participle as Proto-Indo-European *ǵnh₃-to-.^[7][1] Latin also had nōtitia (“knowledge”) and nōtōrius, the sources of notizia and notorio.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli dates the word to about 1261, GRADIT to before 1313, and DELI to Dante, before 1321, with the sense “known”.^[5][4][2] In the Inferno Dante says of Nimrod: Così è a lui ciascun linguaggio, / come il suo ad altrui, ch'a nullo è noto (“Every language is to him as his is to others, which is known to no one”).^[8]

Semantic evolution

Beside “known to someone” the word soon meant “widely known, famous”, and later also “notorious”, as in tristemente noto.^[8][4][1] It is common in impersonal use, è noto che (“it is well known that”) and come è noto (“as everyone knows”).^[4][9] Old texts also used it as a noun for acquaintances: li parenti e li altri noti tutti (“the relatives and all the other acquaintances”).^[10] Zingarelli records an obsolete sense “practised, expert”, and the old phrase mal noto, “not well known”.^[5]

As a neuter noun il noto is “what is known”, opposed to l'ignoto.^[4][5] In mathematics a termine noto is the term of an equation or polynomial without an unknown.^[9][11] An old dialect form was nòtto.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1261 – Zingarelli's date for the first record.^[5]
• Before 1313 – GRADIT's date for the first record.^[4]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses noto “known”.^[2][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. known to someone, through experience or information: Il suo indirizzo non mi è noto.^[4][9][12]
2. well-known, known to everyone; in impersonal use è noto che, “it is well known that”: È noto che d'inverno qui nevica.^[4][9][11]
3. famous, renowned, of a person; with tristemente, notorious.^[4][12][1]
4. (mathematics) termine noto: the constant term, without an unknown.^[9][11]

Noun

1. (singular only) What is known: il noto e l'ignoto.^[4][5][1]

Word family

• arcinoto
• stranoto
• notorietà

Related words

• notizia
• notificare
• notorio
• ignoto
• conoscere
• ignaro
• ignorare
• Latin nōtus

Usage notes

GRADIT lists two other words of this spelling: one is a zoological term of the 20th century for the dorsal part of an insect's thorax, from Greek nôton “back”.^[4][11][13] The other is a literary name for the south wind, from the second half of the 13th century, borrowed from Latin notus, from Greek nótos; it is often capitalised as a personification, and in poetry stands for any wind.^{[4][3][9][12][13]} Giamboni calls it Noto, chiamato Austro (“Notus, called Auster”).^[13] An obsolete noto “illegitimate son” is from Latin nothus, Greek nóthos.^[14][10] Noto is also a popular form of nuoto.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 e f 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 d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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. ^ 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
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ 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. 11, 584
14. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2603
15. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)