trattato

Forms

trattato m (plural trattati)^[1] Old Italian also wrote tractato, and the GDLI lists northern forms such as tratado and tratà.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin tractatus (“handling; treatment; discussion”), a learned word.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} The Latin noun is an action noun in -tus from tractō (“to handle, treat”), the same verb that gave trattare.^[8][1][9] Körting lists French traité and Spanish tratado beside it.^[10]

The past participle of the verb is spelled the same and is used as an adjective, “treated”, but GRADIT and Zingarelli give it a numbered entry of its own.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Dante's Vita nuova (1293–1294), in the sense of a methodical account of a doctrine: Dante declines a subject and leaves cotale trattato “such a treatment” to another commentator.^[3][11] The GDLI quotes Brunetto Latini's Rettorica, in which the author explains why he undertakes this trattato on fine speaking.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio (1348–1353) already uses the word for an agreement reached between parties, from which comes the modern “treaty” in international law; the trattato di pace is a peace treaty.^[3] In older Italian it also meant a section of a book or a canto of a poem, a negotiation, and a plot: DEI dates “conspiracy” to Sercambi in the 15th century.^[6][7] Varchi divided works into books, books into trattati and these into chapters.^[11]

Today the archaic senses have gone, and the word means a systematic written work on a subject or an international agreement.^[5][12][13] Diminutives such as trattatello and trattatino, and trattatista “writer of treatises” (1805), go back to the first sense.^[7]

Timeline

• 1293–1294 – Dante uses it for a treatment of a subject.^[3]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for an agreement between parties.^[3]
• 14th century – Passavanti uses it for a written treatise.^[7]
• 15th century – Sercambi uses it for a conspiracy.^[7]
• 1805 – Trattatista is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A treatise, a work that sets out a science or subject methodically: Ha scritto un trattato di astronomia in tre volumi.^[5][12][14]
2. (law) A treaty, an agreement between two or more states: I due paesi hanno firmato un trattato di amicizia.^[5][12][13]
3. (archaic) A negotiation, the exchange of proposals before an agreement.^[5][12][14]
4. (archaic) A conspiracy, plot.^[5][12][6]
5. (archaic) A section or canto of a larger work.^[12][6]

Word family

• trattatista
• trattatistica
• trattatistico
• trattatello

Related words

• tratto
• trattare
• trattativa
• Latin tractatus

Usage notes

A trattato aperto is a treaty that other states may join later, and a trattato chiuso one limited to the original parties.^[6][14] As the past participle of trattare, trattato also means “treated” with a special process, as of fruit sprayed with pesticides.^[6][15]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21, 257
3. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3873
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 451
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli