tratto

Forms

tratto m (plural tratti)^[1]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Latin tractus (“a pulling; a stretch, extent; a course”), an action noun from trahō (“to pull, drag”).^[2][3][4][1] The same Latin word gave French trait, Occitan trach and Spanish trecho.^[2][5] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *traχe/o- for the verb and finds its closest relatives in Celtic, such as Old Irish tráig (“ebb, beach”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Dante uses tratto in the Purgatorio (1313–1319) for the strokes of a pen or brush, and also for a distance.^[3][4] Before 1342 Cavalca writes it for a line or sign, and before 1348 Francesco da Barberino for a way of behaving.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian tratto was the act of pulling, as a pull of the net or a throw of the dice (Boccaccio), and in phrases such as tratto di corda, the jerk of the rope in a form of torture.^[3][7][8] Older Italian also had the senses “trick” and “witty remark”.^[9][10]

From the stroke of a pen came the plural tratti for facial features and characteristic traits, and, from distance the senses “stretch of road or river”, “period of time” (1875) and “passage of a text” (1855).^[3][4] Phrases of time grew up early: a un tratto “all at once” is in Boccaccio, a primo tratto “at once” in Pucci, and a tratti “at intervals” in the 19th century.^[11] Tratto d'unione, the hyphen (1877), is a calque of French trait d'union.^[11] In linguistics and psychology tratto names a distinctive feature or a personality trait.^[4]

Timeline

• 1313–1319 – Dante uses tratto for a pen stroke and a distance.^[3][4]
• Before 1342 – Cavalca uses it for a line or sign.^[3]
• Before 1348 – Francesco da Barberino uses it for a manner of behaving.^[3]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for the act of pulling.^[3]
• Mid-16th century – The verb tratteggiare is recorded.^[2]
• 1855 – Fanfani records the sense “passage of a text”.^[3]
• 1877 – Tratto is used in printing for the hyphen.^[11]
• 1961 – Trattino “hyphen, dash” is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A stroke or line drawn with a pen, pencil or brush: Con pochi tratti di matita fece un ritratto.^[4][12][13]
2. A short horizontal line, a dash or hyphen.^[4][12]
3. (usually plural) Facial features: un viso dai tratti regolari.^[4][12][13]
4. A characteristic feature or trait of a person, period or language.^[4][13]
5. Manner, bearing towards others: una signora dal tratto cortese.^[13][10]
6. A length of something long, a stretch of road, river or pipe; a distance.^[4][13][14]
7. (anatomy) A tract, a bundle of fibres or a series of organs with a common function.^[4][12][1]
8. A stretch of sea or sky; a period of time; a passage of a text or piece of music.^[4][10]

Word family

• tratteggiare
• tratteggio
• trattino

Related words

• trarre
• trattore
• trattura
• trattare
• Latin tractus
• French trait

Usage notes

A un tratto, d'un tratto and tutt'a un tratto mean “suddenly”;^[4][14][10] a tratti and di tratto in tratto mean “at intervals”;^[4][14][10] a grandi tratti means “in broad outline”.^[4][14][10] Tratto is also the past participle of trarre, as in a spada tratta, “with drawn sword”, figuratively “wholeheartedly”.^[12][7] An old noun tratto “trade, commerce” was borrowed from Spanish trato.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 e f g h i j k l m n o De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
8. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
10. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3873
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21