tetto

Forms

tetto m (plural tetti)^[1] Old Italian had a plural tettora.^[2][3][4] Other old and regional forms include Old Italian tecto, Old Italian teto and Old Italian teito.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin tēctum (“roof; house”), properly “something covered”, the past participle of tegō (“to cover”) used as a noun.^[2][5][6][1] The same word is French toit, Occitan tech, Spanish techo and Portuguese teito;^[5][7] it belongs to Italy and the western Romance languages and is missing or rare in southern Italy and Sardinia.^[3] In French and northern Italian dialects the word often means “stable” or “cowshed”.^[7][3] Some dialect forms, and Friulian tiet in Old Friulian, point to a variant with a short vowel.^[7][2]

The long vowel of tēctum beside tegō is due to Lachmann's law.^[8] The verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“to cover”), which also gave Ancient Greek στέγω (stégō, “to cover, keep off”) and Ancient Greek τέγος (tégos, “roof”), Lithuanian stógas (“roof”), Old Irish teg (“house”) and Old High German dah (“roof”).^[8][5] Italian tettoia continues a related Latin adjective, tēctōrius (“serving to cover”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Sienese poet Ruggieri Apugliese, in the middle of the 13th century.^[4] DELI dates the sense “the sloping covering of a building” to Dante's Commedia (1313–1319).^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The sense “house, home” is old: DELI records it before 1347, in Bartolomeo da San Concordio, with the old plural tettora.^[2] Old Italian already had sotto il tetto di qualcuno “in someone's house” and sotto un tetto “in the same place”, and the Gospel phrase predicare sopra i tetti “to proclaim from the rooftops”.^[4]

Wider senses followed: any covering (15th century), the rock above a layer or deposit in geology (1891), and an overhang in climbing (1953).^[2] In the 16th century Varchi used tetto for the sloping board from which the ball was served in a ball game.^[3][9] The figurative sense “upper limit” on spending, prices or inflation is modern.^[6][1]

Timeline

• Mid-13th century – Ruggieri Apugliese uses tetto.^[4]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses it for the roof of a building.^[2][6]
• Before 1347 – Bartolomeo da San Concordio uses it for “house”, with the plural tettora.^[2]
• 15th century – The sense “covering” is recorded in sailing manuals.^[2]
• 1891 – The geological sense is recorded.^[2]
• 1953 – The climbing sense “overhang” is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Roof, the covering of a building, usually of sloping surfaces of tiles or similar on a frame of beams: Il vento ha portato via metà del tetto.^[6][10][1]
2. (by extension) House, home: abbandono del tetto coniugale.^[6][2]
3. The roof or top of a vehicle or other structure.^[6]
4. (figurative) Ceiling, cap: an upper limit on spending, prices or similar.^[6][1]
5. (mountaineering) An overhang of rock at nearly a right angle to the face.^[6][2]
6. (geology) The upper surface of a layer of rock; the rock lying above a deposit.^[6][2]

Word family

• tettoia
• tettuccio
• tettino
• sottotetto
• senzatetto

Related words

• tegola
• toga
• Latin tectum
• French toit

Usage notes

Common phrases are senza tetto “homeless”, sotto lo stesso tetto “under the same roof” and gridare dai tetti “to tell everyone”;^[6][10] ci sono i tetti bassi warns that children are listening.^[6][10] A separate interjection tetto! “stop, don't touch!”, said to children around Pisa, Livorno and Lucca, is recorded by Fanfani in 1863.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3781
4. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 990
10. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3843