vettura

Forms

vettura f (plural vetture)^[1] Old spellings include vectura, vetura and victura.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vectūra (“transport; the price of transport”), a noun formed from vectus, the past participle of vehō (“to carry, convey”).^[3][4][5][1] The Latin noun is vehō with the suffix -tūra.^[1][6] Wiktionary gives the Italian word as inherited, while the Zingarelli and the GDLI call it learned and Prati thinks it probably came in by a literary route.^[1][7][2][8]

The modern senses “carriage”, “railway carriage” and “car” were shaped by French voiture, which had taken them on in the 13th century (already as a concrete vehicle), in 1829 and in 1907.^[3][4] The DEI and Treccani call these senses calques of the French word, and Devoto–Oli enters them as a separate borrowing from French, dated 1829.^[9][10][11] The same Latin word gave French voiture and Occitan vechura, and in the south Sicilian vittura, the hiring of animals for travel.^[4][12]

Latin vehō goes back to Proto-Italic *weχ-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to carry”).^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini and the Zingarelli date the word to 1219, in the sense of transport.^[4][7] GRADIT's first record is from before 1320, and DELI notes that Pietro de' Crescenzi's Italian translation (before 1320) already speaks of horses a vettura, hired out to carry loads or riders.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the word also named the price paid for such transport.^[9][5] Boccaccio tells of two nags taken a vettura, on hire,^[14] and in old use the word could also mean a woman for hire, a prostitute.^[9][7] The animal or vehicle used for the transport came to be called vettura too.^[5][15]

The sense of a horse-drawn carriage for public service is recorded in 1667, the railway or tram carriage in 1826, and the motor car in 1935, when Panzini noted that people in Turin said vettura after French voiture instead of macchina or automobile.^[3] The commercial lettera di vettura, a consignment note, renders French lettre de voiture.^[9] In the dialects of Abruzzo and Molise vettura is a pack, draught or saddle animal, and at Capestrano it named the pairs of animals used for threshing.^[16][9]

English borrowed vettura in 1792, of a carriage in Italy, and German Vettura is recorded from 1838.^[17][9]

Timeline

• 1219 – The word is first recorded, in the sense “transport”.^[4][7]
• Before 1320 – Pietro de' Crescenzi's translation speaks of horses a vettura.^[3][5]
• 14th century – Sigoli uses the word for the price of transport.^[9]
• 1667 – Vettura is a horse-drawn carriage for public service.^[3][17]
• 1792 – English vettura is first recorded.^[17]
• 1826 – The word is used for a railway carriage.^[3]
• 1838 – German Vettura is first recorded.^[17]
• 1923 – Vetturetta, a small car, appears in Panzini's dictionary.^[3]
• 1935 – Panzini records vettura in the sense “motor car”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated) The transport of people or goods for payment on pack animals or carts.^[5][11][15] Also the price paid for such transport, and the animal or vehicle that does it.^[5][11][15]
2. A horse-drawn carriage for public hire, driven by a vetturino: una vettura di piazza.^[5][11][7]
3. A railway or tram coach: Siamo saliti sulla vettura di testa.^[5][11][10]
4. A motor car, an autovettura: Ha parcheggiato la vettura nuova sotto casa.^[5][18][10]

Word family

• vetturale
• vetturino
• vetturetta
• vettureggiare
• autovettura

Related words

• veicolo
• Latin vectūra
• French voiture

Usage notes

In commerce, a lettera di vettura is the consignment note that documents a contract of carriage.^[7][15][11] In vettura! was the call for passengers to board a departing train, and vettura letto and vettura ristorante are a sleeping car and a dining car.^[11][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 1052
9. ^ a b c d e f g Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4043
10. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Marcato, Carla (1998), I dialetti italiani: dizionario etimologico, Torino: UTET
17. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
18. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse