Etymologically
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visto

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Pronunciation

Forms

visto m (plural visti)[1]

Etymology

The noun is the past participle of vedere used as a noun, “seen (and approved)”.[2][3][4][5] The participle is inherited from Vulgar Latin *vīsitus, which replaced classical Latin vīsus (“seen”) on the model of participles such as positus (“placed”);[5][6][1] Wiktionary also considers a form *vīditus.[1] “Vīsus” is the participle of videō (“to see”), from Proto-Italic *wissos and Proto-Indo-European *widtós, from the root *weyd- (“to see, to know”).[1] DEI takes the noun from Spanish visto.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The participle is recorded from the 14th century, in Giordano da Pisa and Matteo Villani;[6][3][7] Petrarch speaks of a garment mai non visto altrove (“never seen elsewhere”).[6][3][7] The noun, a signature of approval by a higher authority on a document from a lower one, is first recorded in 1814, in a proclamation from Udine.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Ugolini (1848) still rejected the noun as office jargon.[2] Tommaseo noted that until recently visto had also been a formula with which the sovereign rejected a petition.[7][2] The verb vistare “to stamp with a visa” is recorded in 1877.[6] The visto consolare, the consul's endorsement that makes a foreign passport valid for entry, appears in a dictionary in 1961, and visto alone now usually means a visa.[2][5]

The participle has several fixed uses: visto che “seeing that, since”, mai visto “unheard-of”, ben visto and mal visto “well or badly regarded”, and the printer's formula visto si stampi with which the last proofs are passed for press.[8][5][9]

Timeline

  • 14th century – The participle visto is recorded.[6][3]
  • 1814 – The noun appears in a proclamation from Udine.[2]
  • 1848 – Ugolini rejects it as bureaucratic jargon.[2]
  • 1877 – Vistare is recorded.[6]
  • 1961 – Visto consolare is recorded.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (administration) An endorsement, the signature or stamp of an authority approving or acknowledging a document: La pratica aspetta il visto del direttore.[9][5][4]
  2. A visa, the permit a state gives to enter or leave its territory: Per quel paese serve il visto d'ingresso.[9][4][1]

Adjective

  1. Seen, looked at (from a given point of view): Vista dall'alto, la città sembra un presepe.[8][10][9]
  2. Considered, in view of (in absolute constructions): Visto il traffico, siamo partiti presto.[8][5][10]
  3. Visto che: since, seeing that: Visto che piove, restiamo a casa.[8][5][11]

Word family

  • vistare
  • benvisto
  • malvisto
  • stravisto

Usage notes

Visto is also the usual past participle of vedere, beside veduto.[9][6] The phrase chi s'è visto s'è visto closes a matter for good: “that's the end of it”.[9]

An old literary visto “quick, nimble” is a different word, from Old French viste (modern vite), as in Boccaccio's un lioncello presto e visto, “a quick and nimble lion cub”.[9][12] GDLI notes that viste is usually taken as expressive, like vispo, and Devoto–Oli derive the Italian word from an old participle of vivere, “lively”.[12][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4069
  7. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  10. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  11. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  12. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca