tartaruga

Forms

tartaruga f (plural tartarughe)^[1]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.^[2][3][4] Most dictionaries follow the Austrian archaeologist Rudolf Egger, who in 1930 derived the word from Late Latin tartarūca, a form of Christian Latin found on a curse tablet from Traù (Trogir), from the name of an infernal spirit, Ancient Greek ταρταροῦχος (tartaroûkhos, “ruler or dweller of Tartarus”), first found in a magic papyrus.^[2][3][1] The Greek name is compounded of Τάρταρος (Tártaros, “Tartarus, the underworld”) and ἔχω (ékhō, “to have, hold, dwell”).^[3][5] In early Christian symbolism the tortoise stood for the spirit of darkness.^[2][6] On this view the Latin form was shortened by haplology to tartuca and turned into tortuca by association with torto.^[3]

Prati rejected this, because the oldest forms are ⟨tartuca⟩ (Lorenzo Valla, Sicilian, about 1500) and the Spanish form of 1526 with ⟨tor-⟩; for him the Italian word was ⟨tartuca⟩ with an inserted ⟨-ar-⟩.^[2][7] Folena replied that the Portuguese form and perhaps 13th-century Catalan evidence, with ⟨tartaruca⟩ already in Ramusio, make the reverse more likely, a reduction of ⟨tartaruca⟩ to ⟨tartuca⟩ by syncope and dissimilation.^[2] Nocentini sides with Prati: ⟨tortuca⟩ and ⟨tartuca⟩ are widely recorded in Romance and Medieval Latin texts of the 13th and 14th centuries, while ⟨tartaruca⟩ dates from the 15th–16th.^[3] He derives ⟨tortuca⟩ probably from Latin tortus (“twisted”), for the turned-out legs, with the suffix of marruca and of the Tuscan pizzuga “tortoise”, and Devoto–Oli follows him.^[3][8] Körting had already set up a form from the same participle.^[9]

The related words are French tortue, Occitan tortuga, Catalan tortuga and Spanish tortuga, while Portuguese tartaruga is a loan from Italian.^[3][1] The English word tortoise comes from the French.^[3] Devoto explains the /g/ as northern voicing of /k/.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's earliest record is the plural tartaruche in a Sabine version of the Mascalcia of L. Rusio, from the end of the 14th century, naming reptiles of land and water with a protective shell.^[11] DELI dates tartaruga to Aretino in 1534, with tartaruca in Ramusio before 1557; it notes that the Crusca's 14th-century example is a forgery by Redi.^[2] Zingarelli gives 1526.^[12] Older writers used testuggine instead.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The 16th century shows many forms: Florio in 1598 lists tartaruga, tarterucca, tarteruga, tartuga, tartocca and tartugella.^[2] The form tartuca is Sienese, and Venetian has gagiandra for the animal.^[13][2]

The material of the shell, used for combs and spectacle frames, is called tartaruga before 1729 (Salvini), and a slow person in 1879 (Tommaseo–Bellini).^[2] Modern Italian also uses it for the meat, for an orange-brown colour, and for an oval outdoor ceiling lamp protected by a metal grid.^[4][6] By antiphrasis it was the name of a fast locomotive of the Italian State Railways.^[14] Colloquially it is short for addominali a tartaruga, a six-pack.^[1]

Portuguese, Galician and Spanish borrowed the Italian word.^[1]

Timeline

• Late 1300s – A Sabine text has tartaruche.^[11]
• c. 1500 – Valla writes the Sicilian form tartuca.^[7]
• 1534 – Aretino uses tartaruga.^[2]
• Before 1557 – Ramusio writes tartaruca.^[2]
• 1598 – Florio lists six forms of the word.^[2]
• Before 1729 – Salvini uses it for tortoiseshell.^[2]
• 1879 – Tommaseo–Bellini records it for a slow person.^[2]
• 1930 – Rudolf Egger proposes the derivation from the name of an infernal spirit.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (zoology) A turtle or tortoise: any reptile of the order of the chelonians, with a body enclosed in a bony shell.^[4][8][14]
2. (zoology) Specifically, a sea turtle.^[4][5]
3. The meat of the animal: Al pranzo servirono una zuppa di tartaruga.^[4][12]
4. tortoiseshell, the material from the plates of the shell, or a synthetic imitation: una montatura di tartaruga.^[4][12][6]
5. (figurative) A slow person: Muoviti, sei una tartaruga!^[4][14][12]
6. An oval ceiling lamp protected by a metal grid.^[4][6]
7. (invariable, after a noun) Of a warm orange-brown colour.^[4][6]
8. (colloquial) Short for addominali a tartaruga, a six-pack.^[1]

Word family

• tartarughina
• tartarugato
• tartarughiera

Related words

• tartuca
• French tortue
• Spanish tortuga

Usage notes

In scientific usage testuggine is kept for the species of land and fresh water, tartaruga for the marine ones.^[8][5] The form tartuca is uncommon.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 i Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
7. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 978
8. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse