ragazzo

Forms

ragazzo m (plural ragazzi, feminine ragazza, diminutive ragazzétto or ragazzìno, (uncommon) ragazzòlo or ragazzuòlo, augmentative ragazzóne, pejorative ragazzàccio, derogatory ragazzùccio (“pitiful boy”))^[1] Old forms include ragazo, ragasso and regàcio.^[2] Rome says regazzo, a Venetian, eastern Lombard and old Piacenza form.^[3]

Etymology

Its origin has been much debated.^[4] Most dictionaries follow the explanation proposed independently by Giovan Battista Pellegrini (1960) and Joan Corominas (1962), which Ascanio Persio had already put forward in 1592: it is borrowed from Arabic رَقَّاص (raqqāṣ, “courier, messenger”), a word of Maghrebi Arabic recorded from the 13th century for a letter carrier or a guide of travellers, probably brought in through Sicily.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9]} DELI notes that Latin plurals such as ⟨ragaceni⟩ (Cividale, 1408) are the regular Arabic plural of the word, not a diminutive, and GRADIT compares the Medieval Latin form ragatius of the 13th century.^[4][5]

Nocentini rejects this: the isolated Old Catalan ⟨arracasses⟩ and Old Venetian ⟨rachasi⟩ “messengers” do not match the Italian word in form or meaning, and the word is native neither to Venice nor to Sicily.^[10] He revives Brüch's proposal that it is Byzantine Greek ἐργάτης (ergátis, “servant; worker”), brought in through the Exarchate of Ravenna and adapted as ⟨*ergatiu⟩: the dialect form ⟨regazzo⟩, with metathesis of the first syllable as in rigattiere, would come first, and ⟨ragazzo⟩ from it by assimilation of the vowels.^[10] The modern Greek variant spread to the Balkans, giving Romanian argat (“farmhand”).^[10]

Older proposals derived it from Ancient Greek ῥάκος (rhákos, “rag”), through Late Latin raga, a coarse garment worn by servants,^[11][1] and DELI lists others still, from ⟨*radica⟩ “root” to Latin hērēs (“heir”).^[4] Occitan regach and Catalan ragatxo “page, shepherd's boy” are loans from Italian.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini dates ragazzo to 1277–1282 and ragazza to 1342.^[10] The early sense is a servant: Dante uses it for a stable boy (Inferno 29, “Non vidi già mai menare stregghia / a ragazzo aspettato dal segnorso”, I never saw a stable boy whose master was waiting ply the curry-comb so fast), and Giordano da Pisa, before 1311, says that lords need ragazzi at least for the stables.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century ragazzo was a servant used for menial work: Boccaccio and Giovanni Villani use it of grooms and camp followers.^[12][13] The sense “boy, adolescent” is recorded in 1566 in Leonardo Salviati.^[4] Muratori explained the shift by comparison with Latin, where pueri “boys” also meant servants.^[2] Later came “son” (1686, Paolo Segneri), “young man” and an immature adult (1872, Tommaseo–Bellini), and “boyfriend” (1895, Arlìa).^[4]

Workers and soldiers call each other ragazzi regardless of age, an affectionate use.^[13] Ragazzi di vita, the title of Pasolini's novel of 1955, names youths living on the margins, and the ragazzi del '99 were the conscripts born in 1899 sent to the front at eighteen.^[6][8] French borrowed ragasch in 1578, and English ragazzo (of Italy) is recorded in 1862.^[14]

Timeline

• 13th century – Medieval Latin ragatius.^[5]
• 1277–1282 – Nocentini's date for ragazzo.^[10]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses it for a stable boy.^[4]
• 1342 – Ragazza is recorded.^[10]
• 1408 – The Latin plural ragaceni at Cividale.^[4]
• 1566 – “Boy, adolescent” in Leonardo Salviati.^[4]
• 1592 – Ascanio Persio proposes the Arabic origin.^[4]
• 1895 – “Boyfriend”, in Arlìa.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A boy, a male person between childhood or puberty and adulthood: un ragazzo di quindici anni.^[5][6][7]
2. A young man, (familiar, plural) the members of a group, team or class, also as a form of address: forza, ragazzi!^[5][7][8]
3. (familiar) A son; in the plural, children of either sex: i ragazzi sono in gita.^[5][7]
4. A boyfriend: mi ha presentato il suo ragazzo.^[5][15][16]
5. An errand boy, a young worker: il ragazzo del panettiere.^[5][15]
6. (sport, plural) A youth category.^[5]
7. (obsolete) A stable boy, a servant.^[7][8]

Word family

• ragazza
• ragazzino
• ragazzetto
• ragazzone
• ragazzaccio
• ragazzata
• ragazzaglia
• ragazzesco
• ragazzotto

Related words

• garzone
• rigattiere

Usage notes

Da ragazzo means “as a boy, when young”, and a gioco da ragazzi is child's play, something very easy.^[5][15] The familiar shortened vocative ragà or regà is used in central Italy.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 15, 312
3. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3197
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ 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
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
12. ^ 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. 819
14. ^ Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
15. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli