udito

Forms

udito m (plural uditi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin audītus (“hearing”), remodelled after the verb udire.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Latin noun is an action noun formed from audiō (“to hear”) with the suffix -tus.^[6][1] The initial ⟨u-⟩ of the verb comes from the unstressed position, where Latin ⟨au-⟩ gave ⟨u-⟩, while stressed forms such as ⟨odo⟩ have ⟨o-⟩.^[7]

The Latin word survives in all the Romance languages: Romanian auzit, Old Occitan auzit, Old Catalan ouit (1391), Spanish oído (from about 1250) and Portuguese ouvido.^[8][9] In Occitan, Spanish and Portuguese it can also mean the ear.^[9] Feminine forms are Romance creations, such as Old French oie (“hearing”) (about 1148).^[8]

De Vaan takes the Latin verb to be an old compound of an adverb meaning “clearly” and a verbal root meaning “to put”, Proto-Indo-European *h₂eu-is and *dʰeh₁-.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the vernacular translation of Albertano of about 1300, which lists the five senses as sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch.^{[7][8][11][12]}

Semantic evolution

The sense has stayed the same since the first record.^[7][11] Old Italian had the phrase a udito, “by hearsay” (14th century), and later grossezza d'udito for deafness (1745); avere l'udito duro and essere duro d'udito mean to be hard of hearing.^[8][5] Southern texts have forms with au-: Old Neapolitan audito (14th century) and Old Sicilian auditu (15th century).^[8]

The older form odito follows the stressed forms of the verb.^[13][11][12] Physiology describes the sense as the conversion of the sound wave that strikes the eardrum into nerve signals.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – Udito “hearing” appears in the vernacular Albertano.^[7][8]
• 14th century – A udito “by hearsay” is recorded.^[8]
• 14th century – Old Neapolitan audito is recorded.^[8]
• 1554 – Varchi uses udito.^[8]
• 1745 – Grossezza d'udito “deafness” is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. hearing: the sense by which sounds are perceived, through the ear in vertebrates: ha l'udito molto fine.^{[5][3][14][1]}
2. (physiology) The process by which the energy of a sound wave striking the eardrum is turned into nerve signals and perceived as sound.^[5][4]

Word family

• inudito

Related words

• udire
• audizione
• uditivo
• Latin audītus

Usage notes

Udito is also the past participle of udire, “heard”.^[5][15][11] Essere duro d'udito means to be hard of hearing, and figuratively not to want to listen.^[5][3][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
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. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 2278
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana