auto Italian · revision 37790

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing, clipping|attested=1898, Illustrazione popolare|origins=fr automobile}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈa.u.to/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''auto''' ''f'' (invariable)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fr|auto]], a clipping of [[m|fr|automobile]] of a kind typical of spoken French from the 19th century onwards.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|368) DEI compares other familiar French clippings such as [[m|fr|métro]] and [[m|fr|stylo]].^(DEI|368) GRADIT and Wiktionary treat it as a clipping of [[automobile]], and GRADIT dates the French form to 1896.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is in the ''Illustrazione popolare'' of 1898, which comments: “In Francia il desiderio delle abbreviazioni ... ha oggi fatto accettare al pubblico quella di auto dato per brevità alle automobili” (in France the taste for abbreviations has now made the public accept ''auto'', given to motor cars for brevity).^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ DELI records the word as both masculine and feminine; it is now feminine and invariable.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) Two derivatives were coined to replace French ''chauffeur'': ''autiere'' in 1931–1932, which was then adopted by the Ministry of War for an army driver, and ''autista'', proposed and adopted in January 1932, which became the common word.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ Many fixed phrases are built on it, such as ''auto blu'', an official car of the State or of a public body, ''auto civetta'', an unmarked police car, and ''auto pirata'', a car whose driver flees after causing an accident.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020) In some regions ''auto'' is also short for ''autobus''.^(Wiktionary) Cimbrian borrowed the word from Italian.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1896 – French ''auto'' is recorded.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1898 – The ''Illustrazione popolare'' uses ''auto''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1931–1932 – ''Autiere'' is proposed for a driver.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1932 – ''Autista'' is proposed and adopted in place of ''chauffeur''.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|car]], automobile: ''Ho lasciato l'auto in garage.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(regional)'' [[m|en|bus]], short for [[autobus]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[autista]]

+ * [[autiere]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[automobile]]

+ * [[autobus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A separate, masculine ''auto'' (plural ''autos'') names a Spanish or Portuguese religious play in one act, from Spanish and Portuguese ''auto'', from Latin ''actus''; it is recorded in Italian before 1808, and the ''auto sacramental'' dealt with the Eucharist.^(GRADIT 2003)^(DEI|368)^(Zingarelli 2010) In Tuscan, ''auto'' is also an old form of the past participle of ''avere''.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}