tedesco

Forms

tedesco (feminine tedesca, masculine plural tedeschi, feminine plural tedesche)^[1] The variant Old Italian todesco is widespread in old texts and in the dialects, already in the 10th-century Chronicon Salernitanum; other old forms include Old Italian toesco and Old Italian tudisco.^[2][3][4] It is Venetian todesco in Venetian and Sicilian tudiscu in Sicilian.^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin theodiscus (“of the people, vernacular”), a Latin rendering of a Germanic adjective Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz derived from *þeudō (“people”), the word behind Gothic 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰 (þiuda, “people”).^[2][5][6][1] It first named the spoken language of the Germanic peoples, as opposed to Latin, on the model of Latin vulgāris (“of the common people”), and only later the people themselves.^[7][8][9] The same Germanic word became Old High German diutisc, modern German deutsch, and English Dutch.^[5][1]

The reduction of the diphthong ⟨eu⟩ to ⟨e⟩ is old, and is found in Lombard personal names of the 10th century.^[2] Romance relatives are Old French tieis, Romansh tudais, Spanish tudesco and Portuguese tudesco.^[10][9] Devoto further connected the Germanic noun with words for “people” in Baltic, Celtic and Umbrian, and with Italian tutto.^[8][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Medieval Latin theodiscus is first recorded in 786, and a Trento document of 845 speaks of “tam teutisci quam et langobardi” (Germans as well as Lombards).^[2] In Italian the TLIO's first record is the Genoese contrasto of Raimbaut de Vaqueiras (about 1190); DELI has the 12th-century Cantilena di un giullare toscano.^[3][2] The sense is “of Germany”, of a person or the language.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Dante writes of li Tedeschi lurchi (the gluttonous Germans) and of the Danube leaving le ripe tedesche.^[11] Alla tedesca “in the German manner” is in the Tavola Ritonda (14th century).^[10][3] Old Paduan intoescare meant to speak incomprehensibly.^[10] Before 1866 tedeschi was also the Italian name for the Austrians.^[12]

Modern derivatives include tedescofilo (1914–15, Mussolini) and tedescofobo (1957).^[2] Figuratively a tedesco is a precise, methodical person.^[4][13] French borrowed the word as French tudesque (1513), and English as tedesco for a style of art (1802).^[14]

Timeline

• 786 – Medieval Latin theodiscus is first recorded.^[2]
• 845 – Teutiscus is recorded at Trento.^[2][10]
• 10th century – The Chronicon Salernitanum has lingua todesca.^[2]
• About 1190 – Raimbaut de Vaqueiras uses tedesco.^[3]
• 1328 – Medieval Latin pannus tedeschinus is a cloth at the papal court.^[10]
• 1513 – French tudesque is borrowed.^[14]
• 1802 – English tedesco is recorded in art history.^[14]
• 1914–1915 – Mussolini uses tedescofilo.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. German: of Germany, its people or its language: la cucina tedesca, un'auto tedesca.^[6][7][4][1]

Noun

1. A German: a native or inhabitant of Germany.^[6][7][4][1]
2. The German language, and the school subject: Studia tedesco da tre anni.^[6][7][4][1]
3. (figurative) A precise, methodical person.^[4][13]

Word family

• tedescofilo
• tedescofobo
• tedescamente
• tedescheggiare
• tedescheria
• tedeschismo
• tedescume
• intedescare

Related words

• teutonico
• germanico
• German deutsch

Usage notes

Pastore tedesco is the German shepherd dog, and alto tedesco and basso tedesco are High and Low German.^[6][7][15] Parlare tedesco once meant to speak incomprehensibly.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
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. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
10. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3738
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
15. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli