Etymologically
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tedesco

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Pronunciation

  • /teˈdes.ko/[1]

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

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