trasteverino

Forms

trasteverino (feminine trasteverina, masculine plural trasteverini, feminine plural trasteverine)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian Trastevere + -ino, from the name of the district of Rome across the Tiber from the Capitol.^[2][3][4] Latin already had the adjective transtiberinus (“across the Tiber”), formed from trans-, Tiberis (“the Tiber”) and -inus, once also spelled ⟨trast-⟩ in an inscription.^[3][5][6][7] The Treccani, GDLI and Wiktionary take the Italian word as the Latin one remade on Tevere.^[8][9][1] The learned transtiberino keeps the Latin form, and Wiktionary calls the two doublets.^[1][9] Tommaseo notes the Latin adjective in Martial.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in G. C. Passeroni's Cicerone in 1774, and GDLI quotes Passeroni with the noun in the form Transteverino: “if he is a Roman, he will be some servant… at the least a man from Trastevere”.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word carried the sense of the authentic common people of Rome, and GDLI calls the people of Trastevere expressive of the most genuine popular Roman character.^[9] Delfico wrote that in Rome “the rabble extends from the trasteverino to the duke”, and D'Azeglio described a fraternal banquet “from princes to trasteverini”.^[9] G. Manganelli called Belli's Cain “a quarrelsome trasteverino, quick with the knife”.^[9]

As an adjective it describes what is typical of the district, its squares, taverns and songs (stornelli trasteverini), and by extension what is popular.^[9][8][7]

Timeline

• 1774 – Passeroni's Cicerone has Transteverino.^[2][9]
• 1840 – Sabatini–Coletti's date for the word.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of Trastevere, the popular district of Rome on the right bank of the Tiber; typical of it: i vicoli trasteverini.^{[2][11][4][8]}

Noun

1. A native or inhabitant of Trastevere.^{[2][11][4][6]}

Related words

• Trastevere
• Tevere
• transtiberino
• tiberino
• Latin transtiberinus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
8. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
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