tredici

Forms

tredici (invariable)^[1][2] Old and dialect forms include Old Italian tredese, Old Italian tredexe, Old Italian treddeci and Old Italian tridici.^[3] A 14th-century Bergamasque lauda has tredes.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin trēdecim (“thirteen”), a compound of trēs (“three”) and decem (“ten”).^[5][6][2][1] The same word is Dalmatian tretko, Friulian tredis, French treize, Occitan treze, Catalan tretze, Spanish trece and Portuguese treze.^[6][7] In French, Occitan and Catalan it also names the baker's dozen.^[7]

The other Indo-European languages have parallel but not identical forms, such as Ancient Greek τρεισκαίδεκα (treiskaídeka) and German dreizehn.^[8] De Vaan explains the ⟨i⟩ of Latin ⟨-decim⟩ after the ordinals in ⟨-decimus⟩, not by metathesis.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Florentine bankers' book of 1211.^[5][6][3] Dante writes in the Convivio of Mary as a girl of thirteen.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian tredici buoni uomini were the representatives of the districts of Rome who often ran the city government in the 13th and 14th centuries.^[3][10] In the cabala and the book of dreams of the lottery thirteen stands for death, so that tredici became a jargon word for death in the 18th century, and popular belief held the number to be of ill omen; others count it lucky.^[11][12][2]

As a noun, il tredici is dated from Fagiuoli, before 1742, and le tredici for one in the afternoon from 1939–40.^[5] Fare tredici, winning the top prize in the football pools by predicting thirteen results, is recorded from 1951 and came to mean any great stroke of luck.^[5][13][14]

Timeline

• 1211 – Tredici appears in a Florentine bankers' book.^[5][3]
• Before 1742 – Fagiuoli uses il tredici for the number, linked with death.^[5][11]
• 1838 – Tredicenne is recorded.^[6]
• 1939–1940 – Le tredici “one o'clock in the afternoon” is recorded.^[5]
• 1951 – Fare un tredici in the football pools is recorded.^[5]
• 1955 – Tredicista, a winner of the pools, is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Numeral

1. thirteen: ten plus three, written 13 or XIII.^[2][13][15]
2. After a noun, used as an ordinal: thirteenth: capitolo tredici.^[2][13]

Noun

1. The number thirteen and its sign, held by some to be unlucky and by others lucky.^[2][13][16]
2. The thirteenth day of a month, or the year '13 of a century.^[2][13]
3. fare tredici: to win the top prize in the football pools;^[2][13][14] (figurative) to have a great stroke of luck.^[2][13][14]
4. le tredici (feminine plural): one o'clock in the afternoon.^[2][16]

Word family

• tredicesimo
• tredicesima
• tredicenne
• tredicina
• tredicista

Related words

• tre
• dieci
• Latin tredecim

Usage notes

An 18th-century jargon tredici meant “death”, from the number that stands for death in the book of dreams.^[11][12]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ 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, 297
5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3880
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana