testo

testo¹ text

Etymology tree of testo¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin texō

Italian tessere

Latin textus

German Text

Italian testo

From the same root · testo¹

Latin contexō ← texō

Latin intexō ← texō

Latin praetexō ← texō

Latin retexō ← texō

Latin subtēmen ← texō

Latin subtexo ← texō

Latin tēla ← texō

Latin textilis ← texō

Latin textor ← texō

Latin textūra ← texō

Pronunciation

• /ˈtɛs.to/^[1]

Forms

testo m (plural testi)^[1]

Etymology

The word for a text is borrowed from Latin textus (“fabric, texture; in Late Latin, a text”), a noun formed from the past participle of texō (“to weave”), whence Italian tessere.^[2][3][4][1] DEI follows the Latin sense from “fabric” in Lucretius to “plot” in Apuleius, the context of a speech in Quintilian, and the wording or content of a text in Ammianus Marcellinus in the 4th century.^[5][6] The same word is French texte (13th century) and Spanish texto.^[3][5]

De Vaan traces the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *teḱs- (“to fashion”), with Hittite takš- (“to devise, undertake”) among its cognates.^[7] He notes a possible inherited expression for “weaving words”, as in Plautus.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Dante's Convivio (1304–1308), for the writing of an author apart from notes, glosses or translations.^[2][4] Tommaseo quotes the Convivio: tre cose, che in questo testo sono toccate (“three things touched on in this text”).^[8]

Semantic evolution

Tommaseo's examples show the senses of the 19th century: the reading followed in a manuscript or edition, testo interpolato or mutilato, and libri di testo for teaching.^[8] Petrocchi recorded the sense “culturally fundamental book” in 1891.^[2] The adjective testuale goes back to the 14th century, and critica testuale to 1961.^[2]

In music testo named the words set to music in 1774, and in printing a size of type between parangone and silvio (1805).^[9][5] English borrowed testo for a libretto in 1724, and later for the narrator of an oratorio;^[9] German has Testo from 1732, and French texte was used in the musical sense from 1703 as a calque.^[9] Linguistics added the sense of any spoken or written stretch of language taken as a unit, and the computer age ipertesto (1991).^[4][3]

Timeline

• 1304–1308 – Dante uses testo in the Convivio.^[2][4]
• 14th century – The adjective testuale is recorded.^[2][3]
• 1703 – French texte takes the musical sense.^[9]
• 1724 – English borrows testo for a libretto.^[9]
• 1732 – German Testo is recorded.^[9]
• 1774 – Testo is used for the words of a musical piece.^[9]
• 1805 – D'Alberti records testo as a size of type.^[5]
• 1891 – Petrocchi records the sense “fundamental book”.^[2]
• 1991 – Ipertesto is first recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. text, the words that make up a piece of writing or a speech: Ho riletto il testo della domanda prima di spedirla.^[4][6][10]
2. The original text, as against notes, commentary or translation: testo a fronte, a parallel text.^[4][6][10]
3. An authoritative or fundamental work; a passage from one: i testi sacri.^[4][10]
4. (linguistics) A spoken or written stretch of language analysed as a unit.^[4][10]
5. (philology) A work in the form in which manuscripts or prints have handed it down.^[4][6]
6. (music) The words of a song; lyrics, libretto.^[4][1][9]
7. A textbook, in libro di testo.^[4][1]
8. (printing, dated) A size of type.^[5][1]

Word family

• testuale
• ipertesto
• intertesto
• ipotesto
• metatesto
• paratesto
• peritesto
• avantesto

testo² earthenware lid or baking dish

Pronunciation

• /ˈtɛs.to/^[1]

Forms

testo m (plural testi)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the earthenware lid is inherited from Latin testum (“earthenware lid; earthenware pot”), also testū: first the lid of a clay vessel, then the vessel itself.^[2][3][4][1] It is a variant of testa (“piece of baked clay; potsherd”).^[3][1]

The word is found all over Romance: Old French test (modern French têt), Occitan test, Catalan test, Spanish tiesto, Portuguese testo, Sardinian testu and Romanian țest (“pot”).^[3][11][5] DELI finds no certain Indo-European cognates, and de Vaan thinks the Latin word for a potsherd probably a loanword, as words for vessels often are.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the word to the second half of the 13th century.^[4] The GDLI quotes the northern poet Patecchio for a clay pot: con' qi voles mendar un testo tuto roto (“like someone trying to mend a pot all broken”).^[12]

Semantic evolution

DELI records the earthenware lid in a 14th-century book of medical cures, the clay or stone disc for baking chestnut cakes in the Italian Crescenzi (about 1350), and the low-rimmed tart dish before 1502.^[2] DEI adds “crucible” and “potsherd”.^[5] The Decameron has a large testo “of those in which marjoram or basil is planted”.^[8][12] Tommaseo noted that the flowerpot sense was not Florentine but was used elsewhere in Tuscany.^[8]

Today the testo is above all the flat disc or pan of terracotta, stone or cast iron on which the Romagna piadina is cooked.^[4][13]

Timeline

• Second half of the 13th century – GRADIT's date of first record.^[4]
• 14th century – Testo is used for an earthenware lid.^[2]
• About 1350 – The Italian Crescenzi uses it for a baking disc.^[2]
• Before 1502 – Cammelli mentions a testo da villa da far torte, a country tart dish.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A shallow dish or disc of terracotta, stone or cast iron for cooking over a fire, as for piadine; a griddle.^[4][6][13]
2. (uncommon) An earthenware lid for pots.^[4][13][1]
3. (archaic) Earthenware; a potsherd.^[4][13]
4. (archaic) An earthenware flowerpot.^[4][14][1]