bastardo Italian · revision 38034

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1269, anonymous Florentine poem}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /basˈtar.do/^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''bastardo''' (feminine bastarda, masculine plural bastardi, feminine plural bastarde)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fro|bastard]], a word whose further origin is disputed.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(DEI|454) [[la-med|bastardus]] is found in Italy a little before the Italian word, in Salimbene (1281–1288) and in a document of 1290.^(DELI 1999) According to DEI the French word spread with Carolingian culture from northern France over the whole of western Romance, first as a legal term for the son of a prince by a concubine, with nothing insulting about it, and then a second time, again from France, with its pejorative sense.^(DEI|454) The LEI notes that the Medieval Latin word is recorded in France about 1060 as the byname of William the Conqueror, and already about 1010 in a Catalan document, when Catalonia lay inside the Frankish Spanish March, so that the word must have arisen within Frankish culture.^(LEI|3, 521) From French it reached [[es|bastardo]], [[de|Bastard]] and [[en|bastard]];^(Nocentini 2010) the modern form is [[m|fr|bâtard]].^(DEI|454)

+

+ The ending is the suffix [[m|it|-ardo]], of Germanic origin, from the name element [[gem-pro|*harðu-|t=bold]], which is common in Frankish personal names and usually pejorative in Romance.^(LEI|3, 521)^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto 1968) The base is less clear.^(LEI|3, 521) Nocentini follows Wolf in deriving it from [[frk|*bast|t=morganatic marriage]], from a Germanic [[gem-pro|*banstu]]: the word named a union with a woman of lower rank that old Germanic law tolerated beside official marriage, and Christian morality made both the union and its children illegitimate.^(Nocentini 2010) The Battaglia dictionary instead connects it with a Germanic word for a farm or barn, compare [[got|𐌱𐌰𐌽𐍃𐍄𐍃|tr=bansts|t=barn]].^(GDLI|2, 96) The old explanation from [[basto|t=packsaddle]], through the French phrase [[fro|fils de bast]] “son of the packsaddle” (a child begotten on the packsaddle by muleteers and servant girls), is thought by DELI to be perhaps a joking comment on the noun and by DEI a folk etymology.^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|454)^(Prati 1951) J. Knobloch proposed a remote Iranian origin.^(DELI 1999)

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+ The modern use as a general insult reflects English [[m|en|bastard]], and DELI dates it to 1961–1962, in translations from English.^(DELI 1999)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is an anonymous Florentine poem of about 1269, where the word describes an illegitimate child, born outside marriage.^(TLIO)^(Zingarelli 2010) DELI's first records are in Iacopone da Todi, who died in 1306, and in Arrighetto (1304–1313).^(DELI 1999)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old Italian already used the word as an insult and, figuratively, for an unworthy or corrupt person or thing.^(TLIO) Dante calls the degenerate people of Romagna bastards: ''O Romagnuoli, tornati in bastardi!'' (“O men of Romagna, turned into bastards!”).^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)^(DELI 1999) About 1350 the Italian translation of Crescenzi's treatise on agriculture applies it to animals and plants born of a cross between two breeds.^(DELI 1999)^(Prati 1951)

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+ Old technical uses name things that differ from the normal size or form: the ''bastardo'' was the largest lateen sail of a galley, a ''bastarda'' a kind of galley, and modern Italian still has the ''lima bastarda'', a file of medium cut, and the ''scrittura bastarda'', a French cursive hand.^(Prati 1951)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011) A ''bastardella'' is a deep pot for cooking meat (1729).^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) In some dialects the word took on, independently, the neutral sense “boy”: Ticinese ''bastard'', Romagnol ''bastèrd''.^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1269 – An anonymous Florentine poem has the first Italian record.^(TLIO)

+ * 1281–1288 – Salimbene uses Medieval Latin ''bastardus''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses ''bastardo''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1321 – Dante uses the word figuratively, for what has degenerated.^(DELI 1999)

+ * c. 1350 – The translation of Crescenzi uses it for crossbred animals and plants.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1729 – ''Bastardella'', a cooking pot, is recorded in the fourth Crusca dictionary.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1961–1962 – The word spreads as a general insult in translations from English.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(derogatory)'' Born of parents who are not married to each other; [[illegittimo|alt=illegitimate]]: ''Era il figlio bastardo di un nobile veneziano.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # Of an animal or plant, born of a cross between different breeds or varieties; of a dog, not [[pedigree|alt=pedigreed]]: ''Abbiamo adottato un cagnolino bastardo al canile.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Not pure, mixed, [[m|en|corrupt]]: ''Parlava un francese bastardo, pieno di parole italiane.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' Very bad, nasty: ''Abbiamo avuto un inverno bastardo.''^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # Of a tool or device, differing from the usual form or size, as in ''lima bastarda'', a file of medium cut.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

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+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(derogatory)'' An illegitimate child, a [[m|en|bastard]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(vulgar)'' A general term of abuse for a nasty or treacherous person: ''Quel bastardo mi ha rubato il posto.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # A crossbred animal, especially a [[m|en|mongrel]] dog.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[bastardella]]

+ * [[bastardume]]

+ * [[bastardello]]

+ * [[imbastardire]]

+ * [[bastardino]]

+ * [[bastardamente]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[basto]]

+ * [[fr|bâtard]]

+ * [[en|bastard]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ Sabatini–Coletti marks the sense “born outside marriage” as vulgar.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) In a ''tonnara'', a tuna trap, the ''bastardo'' is the chamber next to the ''camera della morte'', the chamber where the fish are killed.^(GRADIT 2003)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}