pasto

Forms

pasto m (plural pasti)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pāstus (“pasture, food”), the action noun of pascō (“to feed, to graze”).^[2][3][1][4] Wiktionary and Nocentini treat it as an inherited word, and the REW lists it among the popular outcomes of the Latin noun;^[1][2][5] DELI, however, calls it a learned word.^[6] The same noun gave French pât (“feed for dogs and birds”), Occitan past, Catalan past, Spanish pasto and Portuguese pasto, as well as Sardinian pastu and Friulian past.^[2][5] French built on it appât (“bait”) and repas (“meal”).^[7][5]

The Latin noun is formed on the stem of the past participle of the verb;^[8] Devoto traces it to a root ⟨pā-⟩, extended with ⟨-s-⟩ in the verb and without it in pābulum (“fodder”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Bencivenni in 1310, with the sense “the daily act of feeding; food, nourishment”.^[6] Dante (before 1321) says of the she-wolf that dopo 'l pasto ha più fame che pria (“after her meal she is hungrier than before”).^[6][9]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used pasto both for an animal's food and for the act of eating: Dante writes la bocca sollevò dal fiero pasto (“he raised his mouth from the savage meal”).^[9] The sense of a meal taken at fixed hours is well attested from the 14th and 15th centuries: Savonarola advises eight hours or more fra pasto e pasto (“between one meal and the next”).^[10] The verb pasteggiare “to dine, especially on a usual dish” appears as pastizare in the late 14th century.^[6]

The old phrase dar pasto meant “to tell tall tales, to fool” (Varchi, Berni),^[11] and pastocchia came from it “a trick, a fabrication” (1612).^[2] In Tuscany pasto is the lung of a slaughtered animal, given as food to other animals, recorded from 1829.^[12][9] Modern Italian has the fixed phrases vino da pasto (table wine), fuori pasto (between meals), dare in pasto (to expose to public curiosity) and buono pasto (meal voucher).^[3][13][14]

Timeline

• 1310 – Bencivenni uses pasto.^[6]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses the word for the she-wolf's meal.^[6][9]
• Late 14th century – The verb pastizare (pasteggiare) appears.^[6]
• 1547 – The form pasteggiare is recorded.^[6]
• 1612 – Pastocchia “fabrication” is recorded.^[2]
• 1829 – The Tuscan sense “lung of a slaughtered animal” is recorded.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A meal: each of the times food is eaten during the day, usually at regular hours;^[3][15][14] saltare i pasti “to skip meals”.^[3][15][14]
2. The food and drink eaten at a meal: Dopo la camminata ci aspettava un pasto caldo.^[3][16][14]
3. The food of an animal, its feed.^[16][17]
4. (literary) A rich and solemn banquet.^[3]
5. (Tuscan) The lung of a slaughtered animal, used as food for other animals.^[3][16][13]
6. (medicine) In pasto di prova, a test meal;^[15][14] pasto opaco or pasto di bario, a barium meal for X-rays.^[15][14]

Word family

• pasteggiare
• pasteggiabile
• pastocchia
• impastocchiare
• antipasto
• pospasto

Related words

• pascere
• pastura
• pascolo
• Latin pastus

Usage notes

An archaic and literary adjective pasto “fed, sated” is the learned past participle of pascere, from Latin pastus: Dante has e come quel ch'è pasto la rimira (“and as the one that has been fed looks up at her”).^[3][15][18]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 320
9. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12, 794
11. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 749
12. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2798
13. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c d e f Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ 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
16. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
18. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12, 796