taxi

Forms

taxi m^[1] The adapted spelling is tassì (1935).^[2][3][4] In Rome the forms tassi and popular tassine were used.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French taxi, recorded in French in 1906, a shortening of taximètre (“taximeter”).^[3][2][4] The meter's name came to stand for the car fitted with it.^[4] The French compound was proposed in 1904 by Salomon Reinach in place of taxamètre, which was about to come into use in Paris: ⟨taxa-⟩ made a hybrid of Latin and Greek, while ⟨taxi-⟩ took up Ancient Greek τάξις (táxis, “order; fixing of a tax”) and made the compound wholly Greek.^[2] Sabatini and Coletti derive the older form from German Taxameter.^[6]

Nocentini sees ⟨tassì⟩ as the older Italian form and ⟨taxi⟩ as reintroduced later with the English pronunciation /ˈtaksi/.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Devoto–Oli date the word to 1914, when Ardengo Soffici wrote in Lacerba of “the taxi that cannot be found”.^[3][7] DELI's first record is Panzini's dictionary of 1918.^[3][7][2]

Semantic evolution

Panzini's 1935 dictionary accepted the adapted form tassì and also recorded taxi-girl, a girl paid by a dance hall to dance with customers.^[2] The driver became taxista (1936) and later tassista (1955), and Roman speech made tassinaro (1954) on the model of benzinaro.^[4][2]

Writers of the 20th century, from Pirandello to Gadda, use both taxi and tassì.^[8] Newer compounds include the taxi collettivo, shared by several passengers, and the taxi aereo, a small hired aircraft.^[7]

Timeline

• 1904 – Salomon Reinach proposes French taximètre.^[2]
• 1906 – French taxi is recorded.^[3]
• 1914 – Ardengo Soffici uses taxi in Lacerba.^[3]
• 1918 – Panzini's dictionary records taxi.^[2]
• 1935 – Panzini records tassì and taxi-girl.^[2]
• 1955 – Tassista is recorded.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A taxi, a car with a taximeter that carries passengers for a fare: Abbiamo preso un taxi per tornare in albergo.^[3][7][6]
2. Taxi aereo: a small aircraft hired for passenger flights, also aerotaxi.^[7][9]

Word family

• taxista
• taxi-girl

Related words

• tassì
• tassista
• tassametro
• tassinaro

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
6. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 20, 779
9. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli