sorta

Forms

sorta f (plural sorte)^[1]

Etymology

According to most dictionaries it is borrowed from Old French sorte, the source of French sorte.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} Nocentini and Devoto–Oli take it from the French word, and DEI, Zingarelli and the GDLI call the French route probable.^{[2][3][7][8][9]} DELI and Wiktionary derive it from Vulgar Latin *sorta, with French only a possible route.^[10][1] GRADIT derives it from Latin sors (“lot, fate”), comparing the French form, which it dates to 1530 (as ⟨sourte⟩).^[11]

The Vulgar Latin form replaces the classical accusative of sors, which gave the inherited sorte “fate”.^[10][12][1] Meyer-Lübke listed the Italian word as a borrowing of the French one.^[12]

Latin sors first meant a lot, a lottery ticket or a voting tablet.^[13] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *sorti- and Proto-Indo-European *sr-ti- “joining, joint”, related to serō (“to join, link together”), while the OLD calls the link doubtful.^[13][1][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Giovanni Villani's chronicle (before 1348), meaning “kind, quality, sort”, though DELI notes that the form should be checked in the manuscripts.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

Older Italian also used the word for fortune or fate, as a form of sorte, and in the 14th century, in Franco Sacchetti and the Ottimo commento, for capital or a patrimony.^[7][8][5] It could also mean lineage or breed, a use now obsolete.^[8]

From the 15th century on the plural was often the same as the singular (più sorte vini, “several sorts of wine”, in Brasca), and Machiavelli wrote dua sorte offese (“two kinds of offence”).^[9][15] Today the word is common in ogni sorta di (“every kind of”), in the negative phrase di sorta (“of any kind”) and in una sorta di, for something that can only be described by comparison, often with contempt.^[11][8][4]

German borrowed Sorte from French and Italian, recorded from 1381 and common from the 16th century, and in commerce used the plural for coins and foreign currency from 1597.^[16]

Timeline

• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses sorta.^[10]
• 14th century – Franco Sacchetti and the Ottimo commento use it for capital.^[7]
• 1381 – German Sorte is first recorded.^[16]
• 1530 – French sourte is recorded, according to GRADIT.^[11]
• 1597 – German Sorten is used for coins.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A kind, sort, type: ogni sorta di frutta, and in negative sentences di sorta means “of any kind”.^{[11][3][8][17]}
2. Una sorta di: a kind of, for something that can only be described by comparison, sometimes with contempt: una sorta di zuppa.^[11][3][4]
3. (obsolete) Capital, patrimony.^[8][5]
4. (obsolete) Lineage, breed.^[8]

Word family

• assortire
• assortimento

Related words

• sorte
• Latin sors

Usage notes

The plural is sorte, rarely sorti; popular and dialect speech also uses sorta as the plural.^[8] In older and Tuscan usage sorte was a variant of the singular too.^[17][3] A second sorta in GRADIT and Zingarelli is only an old literary variant of sorte “fate”.^[11][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3560
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 19, 506
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ 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
14. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
17. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana