resto

Forms

resto m (plural resti)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian restare (“to remain”) + -o, a deverbal noun.^[1][2][3][4] The verb is a learned word, borrowed from Latin restō (“to stay behind; to be left over”), formed with re- (“back; again”) and stō (“to stand”).^[5][6][1] The other western Romance languages formed the noun in the same way from their verbs: French reste, Spanish resto, Portuguese resto and Friulian rest.^[7][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is a merchant's account book from Lucca of 1332–1336, for the change due to someone who has paid with a larger coin or note.^[5][8] The general sense “what is left of something, or still missing to complete it” appears in Giovanni Villani before 1348, who writes of sums “di resto” (still owing) at the end of a war.^[5][9]

Semantic evolution

A Florentine document of the same time also has a feminine form.^[5] Del resto “besides, after all” is recorded in Magalotti (1666–1667), but purists of the 19th century such as Costa (1827) and Ugolini (1855) rejected it.^[5] The plural resti “remains” was frowned upon too: Tommaseo called resti mortali a crude Gallicism, although Galileo had already written resti di scope.^[5] In proportional elections resti are the votes left over after seats are assigned.^[10][11]

Il resto del carlino, the name of a Bologna newspaper, is popularly explained by the coin called carlino, but DELI links it to an old expression meaning “a scolding”.^[5] German Rest was taken from Italian and French in commerce (1404) and mathematics (1525).^[8]

Timeline

• 1332–1336 – A Lucchese account book uses resto for change.^[5][8]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it for “remainder”.^[5][2]
• 1404 – German Rest is recorded in commerce.^[8]
• Before 1642 – Galileo uses the plural resti.^[5]
• 1666–1667 – Lorenzo Magalotti uses del resto.^[5]
• 1872 – Tommaseo records fare il resto and resti mortali.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The rest, remainder of something: Il resto della serata l'abbiamo passato in giardino.^{[2][3][10][1]}
2. What remains to be done or said: Ti racconto il resto domani.^[2][3][10]
3. change, the money given back to someone who has paid more than the price: Il cassiere ha sbagliato il resto.^{[2][3][10][1]}
4. (mathematics) The remainder of a division.^[2][12][1]
5. (in the plural) leftovers: Stasera mangiamo i resti di ieri.^[2][10][1]
6. (in the plural) Ruins, remains of a building or city: i resti di una villa romana.^[2][12]
7. (in the plural) resti mortali: a person's mortal remains.^[2][12]
8. (politics, in the plural) Surplus votes counted again in a proportional system.^[10][11]

Word family

• restone

Related words

• restare
• restante
• arrestare
• Latin resto
• French reste

Usage notes

Del resto means “after all, besides” and per il resto “otherwise, as for the rest”.^[3][2][1] Old Italian had a separate resto in far resto “to stop, delay”, used by Chiaro Davanzati, and a resto “fibre; rope” in Venetian texts.^[13][14] DEI also records an old Tuscan adjective resto “left, remained”.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3234
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET, p. 4, 153
10. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 15, 904
14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 15, 906