tratta Italian · revision 37815

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=before 1313, Dante|origins=la trahō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈtrat.ta/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''tratta''' ''f'' (plural tratte)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old Italian forms include ''tracta'', ''trata'' and ''tréta''.^(GDLI|21, 248)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the feminine past participle of [[trarre|t=to draw, pull]] ([[tratto]]), used as a noun.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GDLI|21, 248)^(Devoto 1968|451) The verb continues [[inh|la|trahō|t=to draw, drag]], a verb of obscure origin without sure Indo-European relatives.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) The sense of the slave trade reproduces [[fr|traite]], as in the French phrase for the trade in Africans (18th century).^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(DEI|3872) The banking sense, a bill of exchange, is short for [[m|it|lettera tratta|t=letter drawn on someone]].^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ GRADIT dates the word to before 1313, in Dante's line on the crowd of the dead: ''e dietro le venìa sì lunga tratta / di gente'' “and behind it came so long a line of people”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) DELI dates the sense “act of pulling” to Francesco da Buti (before 1406), and DEI cites the 14th-century ''Tavola ritonda''.^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|3872)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old Italian ''tratta'' covered a range of senses from “pull”: a jerk of the rope in torture, the distance a missile flies (Boccaccio's ''una tratta d'arco'' “a bowshot”), a stretch of space or time, the drawing of lots in elections and the export of goods, or the licence to export them.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(DEI|3872) On the Adriatic it named seine fishing and the net itself, which passed into Serbo-Croatian and Modern Greek.^(DEI|3872)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ As a bill of exchange the word is recorded as ''trata'' in a Florentine document of 1520 and in Sassetti in 1586, and German took it as ''Tratte''.^(DELI 1999)^(DIFIT)^(DEI|3872) The slave trade was ''tratta di negri'' by 1765 and ''tratta degli schiavi'' in Colletta, and the ''tratta delle bianche'', the trafficking of women into prostitution, gave a book its title in 1908.^(DELI 1999) The modern sense “section of a railway or bus route” goes back to the old sense “stretch of space”.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1313 – Dante uses ''tratta'' for a long line of people.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 14th century – The ''Tavola ritonda'' uses it for a pull.^(DEI|3872)

+ * 1520 – ''Trata'' “bill of exchange” appears in a Florentine document.^(DELI 1999)^(DIFIT)

+ * 1586 – Filippo Sassetti uses ''tratta'' in banking.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1765 – ''Tratta di negri'' “slave trade” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1908 – ''Tratta delle bianche'' appears in a book title.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A section of a railway, bus or air route between two stops: ''Sulla tratta Bologna–Firenze ci sono ritardi.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # [[m|en|trafficking]] in people: ''tratta degli schiavi'', the [[m|en|slave trade]], ''tratta delle bianche'', trafficking of women for prostitution.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(banking)'' A [[m|en|draft]], a bill of exchange ordering payment of a sum on a set date.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(regional, Adriatic)'' Seine fishing, and the net used for it.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Gabrielli 2020)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(archaic)'' A pull or tug, a stretch of space or time, a line of people, the export of goods.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[trattario]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[trarre]]

+ * [[tratto]]

+ * [[trattare]]

+ * [[strattone]]

+ * [[fr|traite]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}