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traffico

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈtraf.fi.ko/[1]

Forms

traffico m (plural traffici)[1] Old forms include trafico, trafago and trafeo;[2][3] Venetian had trafego.[2][3] The old plural was traffichi, and Old Italian also had a feminine plural le traffiche.[3][4]

Etymology

It is from Italian trafficare (“to trade; to busy oneself”), a noun formed from the verb without a suffix.[5][6][7][2] The origin of the verb is much discussed.[5] Migliorini, whom DELI and Nocentini follow, saw in it a loan from Catalan trafegar (“to decant, to pour from one vessel to another”), reaching Italy at the end of the 13th century with the sense “to bustle, to handle”; the commercial sense became dominant in 14th-century Italy.[5][6] The Catalan verb is from Vulgar Latin *tra(n)sfaecāre (“to decant, freeing from the lees”), from faex (“dregs, lees”) with the prefix trans- (“across”).[6][5] Malkiel answered Corominas's objections to this etymology.[6]

Other proposals are Vulgar Latin *extraficāre, *tra(ns)ficāre or *traficcāre, and Arabic تَفْرِيق (tafrīq, “distribution”), reshaped on the prefix tra-.[5][1] Etymonline and Wiktionary also mention a Vulgar Latin *transfricāre (“to rub across”), from fricō (“to rub”).[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Sienese letter of 1294, for trade, the transfer of goods from one party to another.[2][6] DELI dates the noun to Giovanni Villani, before 1348, who names the trade in grain as one of the causes of a quarrel over the Commune's accounts.[5][3][9]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the word for any dealing or contact with something, for social relations, and for business or bustle in general, as of people coming and going.[2] The great sea trade of the Italian merchant cities spread the verb and the noun abroad: French trafic is recorded from 1339, and English traffic, about 1500, came through French trafique from the Italian noun.[10][8][6] German had Austrian Trafik from the 16th century, which now means a tobacconist's shop.[10]

The sense “illicit trade” is recorded in Florio's dictionary (1598, trafico).[5] The modern sense “movement of vehicles and people in the streets”, recorded from 1917, is due to English traffic, so the word came back to Italian with a meaning it had acquired abroad.[5][6][11] Telecommunications added the volume of messages sent over a network.[7][12]

Timeline

  • 1294 – A Sienese letter has the first record.[2][6]
  • 1339 – French traffic is recorded.[10]
  • Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses the noun.[5]
  • About 1500 – English traffic is first recorded.[8]
  • 1598 – Florio records trafico for illicit trade.[5]
  • 1891 – The sense “movement of business” is recorded.[5]
  • 1917 – The sense “movement of vehicles and people” is recorded.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. trade, commerce, especially the great sea and colonial trade of the past: il traffico delle spezie con l'Oriente.[7][13][11]
  2. Illicit trade, trafficking: un traffico di armi scoperto dalla polizia.[7][13][4]
  3. The movement of vehicles, passengers and goods, by sea, air or rail: il traffico aereo.[7][13][12]
  4. Road traffic; heavy, congested traffic: Siamo arrivati tardi per colpa del traffico.[7][13][4]
  5. (figurative, colloquial) Bustle, people coming and going: Che traffico c'è oggi in ufficio![7][14]
  6. (telecommunications) The volume of messages or data sent over a network.[7][12][11]

Word family

  • antitraffico
  • trafficare
  • trafficante
  • trafficatorio
  • traffichino
  • Catalan trafegar
  • English traffic

Usage notes

Fare traffico di qualcosa is to make a trade of something that should not be sold, such as offices or votes.[7][13][4] Zona a traffico limitato (ZTL) is a city area closed to most private cars.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  10. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  11. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  12. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  13. ^ 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
  14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli