titolo

Forms

titolo m (plural titoli)^[1] Old Italian also wrote tittolo and titulo.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin titulus (“placard, inscription; title”), a learned word, though DELI notes popular reflexes and place names in Italy.^[3][4][5][1] The Latin word first named the placard carried on a pole in triumphs, listing the prisoners and the towns taken, then a notice that a house was to let, an inscription or epitaph, the title of a book, an honorary title, and a pretext.^[4][6] Only some of these senses passed into Italian.^[3] In Medieval Latin the word also meant a parish church, a use introduced by Gregory the Great for the churches of Rome.^[3]

Its origin is unknown.^[3][2][7] DEI compares reduplicated words such as Latin populus and thinks it probably a loan from a non-Indo-European language.^[6] Wiktionary suggests Etruscan.^[1] Devoto connected it with a root meaning “flat board”.^[8]

The same learned word is French titre and Spanish título, and it was borrowed into Old Irish titul.^[4][6] From the sense “sign, mark” come Spanish tilde, the stroke over a letter, and, according to Nocentini, Italian tirchio.^[4][9] DELI suspects that some Italian phrases with the word echo French ones of the 17th century, such as French à juste titre and à titre gratuit.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI and GRADIT date the word to Dante's Convivio (1304–1308), in the sense “name, appellation”.^[3][5] The GDLI quotes it earlier in Brunetto Latini's Rettorica, where the author asks what title the book has.^[2] In the Inferno Ugolino's tower is the prison that “because of me has the title of hunger” (la qual per me ha 'l titol de la fame).^[5][10]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio (1348–1353) has the title of a writing, the name of a rank or dignity, and a right earned by merit; he says that he wrote his tales without titles.^[3][2] Titolato “titled, noble” follows before 1363.^[3] In finance the word came to mean a bond or security: DEI records titolo for a certificate of debt in 1877 and for a paper representing a value in 1890.^[6]

The technical sense “fineness of a metal” came from French: Genovesi (before 1769) noted that the French call it titre, and Carena (1853) still treated it as new.^[3] Petrocchi (1891) records the proportion of a component in a mixture, the count of a yarn and a mocking or insulting epithet.^[3] A newspaper headline is a titolo from 1961, and in sports the word names a championship title.^[3][5]

Timeline

• 1304–1308 – Dante uses titolo for a name or appellation.^[3][5]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for the title of a writing and for a rank.^[3]
• Before 1363 – Matteo Villani uses titolato “titled”.^[3]
• Before 1769 – Genovesi describes the fineness of gold, called titre in French.^[3]
• 1877 – Titolo is recorded for a certificate of debt.^[6]
• 1891 – Petrocchi records the senses “epithet”, “proportion in a mixture” and “yarn count”.^[3]
• 1961 – The sense “newspaper headline” is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The title of a book, film, work of art and the like, or the heading of a chapter or section: Non ricordo il titolo di quella canzone.^[5][11][7]
2. A headline in a newspaper: Il giornale apre con un titolo a tutta pagina.^[12][3]
3. (by extension) A book, as an item in a catalogue: La biblioteca ha più di diecimila titoli.^[5][7]
4. A title of rank, office or qualification: il titolo di barone, il titolo di avvocato, titolo di studio, an educational qualification.^[5][7][12]
5. (sports) The title of champion: La squadra lotta per il titolo.^[5][7]
6. (law) The ground or right that justifies a claim: Non ha alcun titolo per chiedere quei soldi.^[5][13]
7. (finance) A security, bond or share: titoli di Stato.^[1][13]
8. (chemistry, metallurgy) The concentration of a solution, the titre, or the fineness of a metal alloy.^[1][3]
9. (textiles) The count of a yarn.^[1][3]

Word family

• titolare
• titolato
• titolista
• titolone
• titolazione
• intitolare
• sottotitolo
• soprattitolo
• contitolare

Related words

• tirchio
• tilde
• Latin titulus
• French titre

Usage notes

A titolo di means “by way of, as”: a titolo gratuito “free of charge”, a titolo personale “in a personal capacity”.^[13][1] The titoli di testa and titoli di coda are the opening and closing credits of a film.^[11][13] DEI records an obsolete titolo “shriek, shrill cry” in Varchi (16th century).^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3805
7. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
11. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3787