toso

Forms

toso m (feminine tosa, plural tosi, feminine plural tose)^[1][2] In Milan the word is Lombard tos, feminine tosa, and it is also Venetian.^[3] In the Valsugana and at Rovigo it means “young man”.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin tōnsum (“shorn, shaven”), the past participle of tondeō (“to shear, shave”).^{[5][6][7][2][8]} The noun meaning boy is a northern word, from Lombardy and the Veneto: properly a boy with a shorn head.^[5][8][9]

The step from the sense shorn to the sense boy is explained in several ways.^[10] DEI, Sabatini–Coletti and Zingarelli point to the custom of cutting boys' hair, and Devoto–Oli to boys not yet allowed to wear their hair long.^{[3][1][10][7]} For the feminine tosa Prati thought of the habit of shaving the hair of young working women once they were promised in marriage.^[4] DEI and the Treccani compare the shift with caruso.^[3][8]

The same word is Old Occitan tos, feminine tosa, from which French took touse, and Old French tose, tosel.^[3][11] Diez had derived the word from Latin thyrsus (“stalk”), but Körting and Canello preferred the participle.^[11] The form Medieval Latin tonsa is recorded in the Valsugana in 1299.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Pistoia document of 1300–1301, with the sense “shorn”, of hair cut down to the skin.^[2] The noun “boy” appears in the 14th century, in Fazio's Dittamondo (before 1367).^{[5][6][3][12]}

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the adjective was used of animals and people with their hair cut, by extension of the bald, of a mown meadow, and in coinage of a coin clipped of some of its precious metal.^[2] Fazio writes of Samson, “shorn and deceived by a woman” (da una femina / toso e 'ngannato).^[13] Antonio Pucci used the noun figuratively for a base or common man.^[3]

The adjective was used of coins until the 16th century (Ammirato), of sheep by Galileo and of plants in the 17th century.^[3][12] It survives only in the technical and bureaucratic phrase lana tosa, shorn wool.^[8]

The noun stayed a word of Lombardy and the Veneto, known outside these regions.^[8][12] In some dialects it also means “son”, and the feminine tosa a girl of marriageable age.^[4] Manzoni used tosa in the 1825–1827 edition of I promessi sposi.^[4] Diminutives and augmentatives were formed: tosetta “little girl” (Luigi Pulci), tosone “youth” (Bellincioni) and tosino.^[3]

Timeline

• 1299 – Medieval Latin tonsa is recorded in the Valsugana.^[3]
• 1300–1301 – First record, in a Pistoia document, as an adjective “shorn”.^[2]
• Before 1367 – Fazio uses the noun “boy”.^[6][3][12]
• 1825–1827 – Manzoni's I promessi sposi uses the feminine tosa.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (archaic) shorn, shaven; of coins, clipped of some of their metal and so worth less;^{[6][7][14][8]} lana tosa, shorn wool.^{[6][7][14][8]}

Noun

1. (regional, northern Italy) A boy, a young man; also a girl's boyfriend: Il loro toso studia a Padova.^[6][7][1][4]

Related words

• tosa
• tosare
• tondere
• tonsura
• caruso
• Latin tondeo

Usage notes

Toso is also a shortened past participle of tosare.^[10][12] GDLI records a separate archaic toso “tonsure”, a learned word from Latin tonsus (“a haircut”).^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3839
4. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Marcato, Carla (1998), I dialetti italiani: dizionario etimologico, Torino: UTET
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 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 c d e f g Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
10. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
12. ^ a b c d e Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana