peto

Forms

peto m (plural peti)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pēditum (“fart”), formed from the past participle of pēdō (“to break wind”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The form is northern: the /d/ between vowels was lost and the diphthong that resulted was reduced to /e/, as in prete.^[6] DEI and the GDLI also call it a word of northern origin, and DEI allows for a borrowing from Old French pet, recorded in the 13th century.^[7][8] The southern dialects kept the consonant: Neapolitan pérete is the Neapolitan outcome.^[3][9] In Italy the Latin verb was replaced by the iterative Vulgar Latin *pēditō.^[7]

The Latin word continues in French pet, Occitan pet, Catalan pet, Portuguese peido and Sardinian pidu in Campidanese.^[3][9]

De Vaan traces pēdō through Proto-Italic *pezd- to Proto-Indo-European *pesd- (“to fart”), whose descendants include Ancient Greek βδέω (bdéō, “to fart”) and Lithuanian bezdėti.^[10] The same verb gave pōdex (“anus”), the source of podice.^[10][2] Nocentini sets the root beside Proto-Indo-European *perd-, the source of πέρδομαι (pérdomai), and calls both imitative.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a poem of Cecco Angiolieri of Siena, from the end of the 13th century, in the same sense as today.^[11] DELI's first example is Franco Sacchetti's, before 1400: a man lets off a fart so loud that it seemed a bombard (tirò un peto sì grande che parve una bombarda).^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian could use a feminine plural le peta, found in the Tuscan Aesop.^[12][13] The usual phrases were trarre un peto (Firenzuola) and tirare un peto.^[13] The Malmantile has riavere il peto, to get one's strength back, now obsolete.^[12]

Derivatives include the verb spetezzare, from the 14th century, taken from Venetian spetezar.^[3][9] The Tuscan péra, a tall story, used as a euphemism for a fart, adapts Neapolitan pérete.^[3] In Tuscany peto di lupo is a name of the puffball.^[14][15]

Timeline

• Late 1200s – Cecco Angiolieri uses peto.^[11]
• 1300s – The verb spetezzare is recorded.^[3]
• Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses the word.^[2]
• 1957 – Spetezza, a lively girl with a ready answer, is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (vulgar) A fart: an emission of intestinal gas through the anus, often noisy: in ascensore qualcuno ha fatto un peto.^{[4][14][16][15]}
2. (botany) peto di lupo: a puffball, the fungus also called vescia.^[14][15]

Word family

• spetezzare
• spetezza
• petare
• peteggiare

Related words

• podice
• Latin peditum
• French pet

Usage notes

The noun is pronounced with a close /e/ (also with /ɛ/), while peto, the first person of petare, has an open /ɛ/.^[17] An obsolete peto meaning the tobacco plant, from Portuguese petum, is recorded in the 17th century.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2880
8. ^ a b c 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 Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 766
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ Canepari, Luciano, DiPI: Dizionario di pronuncia italiana, online ed., dipionline.it