gatto Italian · revision 38181

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1190, Raimbaut de Vaqueiras|origins=la-lat cattus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈɡat.to/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''gatto''' ''m'' (plural gatti, feminine gatta, diminutive gattìno, augmentative gattóne, pejorative gattàccio or gattonàccio, derogatory gattùccio)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old Italian also wrote [[m|roa-oit|gacto]] and [[m|roa-oit|gato]].^(TLIO) The older ''catto'' survives at Velletri and Castel Madama in Lazio.^(LEI|13, 76)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la-lat|cattus]], with its feminine [[m|la-lat|catta]] and the manuscript variants [[m|la-lat|gattus]] and [[m|la-lat|gatta]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The Late Latin word, first in Palladius in the 4th century, replaced classical [[la|fēlēs]], probably when the domestic cat reached Rome; in Palladius it may still have meant the wildcat or the polecat.^(DELI 1999)^(LEI|13, 76) The initial /g/ is a Tuscan voicing of /k/ before /a/, as in [[gabbia]]; forms with /k/ are typical of Gallo-Romance and rare in Italy.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Devoto 1968)^(LEI|13, 76) The word is panromance except Romanian: [[fr|chat]], [[oc|gat]], [[ca|gat]], [[es|gato]], [[pt|gato]] and [[sc|battu]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)^(LEI|13, 76)

+

+ The origin of the Latin word is obscure.^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) Since the domestic cat came from North Africa, Nocentini and DEI compare words of Nubian and of Berber ([[m|ber|kaddiska]]) as possible sources, perhaps reaching Latin through Egypt.^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|1772) Trumper tried to connect it with [[la|catus|t=sharp]] and [[m|la|catulus|t=whelp]], which may at least have influenced its form.^(Nocentini 2010) Meyer-Lübke and Walde thought it Celtic, a view Körting rejected and the LEI calls problematic, while Corominas thought of a call to the animal.^(REW 1935)^(Körting 1907)^(LEI|13, 76) From Latin the word spread to [[sga|catt]], [[cy|cath]], [[ang|catte]], [[goh|kazza]] and [[lt|katė]].^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is the Genoese verse of the ''Contrasto'' of Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, about 1190;^(TLIO)^(Nocentini 2010)^(DELI 1999) DELI cites the 13th-century ''Detto del gatto lupesco''.^(TLIO)^(Nocentini 2010)^(DELI 1999) In early texts the feminine ''gatta'' was preferred when the sex did not matter, as it was in Latin.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The first sure record of a house cat in Latin is in John the Deacon's life of Gregory the Great, whose only possession was a she-cat he kept in his lap.^(LEI|13, 76) Already in Latin the name was given to a siege engine: Vegetius says the barbarians called ''cattae'' what the ancients called ''vineae''.^(DELI 1999) Italian ''gatto'' had this sense before 1292 in Bono Giamboni, and later meant the top of a galley mast (1528, Paolo Giovio) and a pile driver (1798).^(DELI 1999) DEI notes old figurative senses such as “peasant”, “sly person”, “womanizer” and “thief”, of which the last ones survive.^(DEI|1772) In the dialects the word names caterpillars and the catkins of willow and hazel.^(REW 1935)

+

+ Phrases with the animal grew up early: ''gatta ci cova'' (1523–24, Firenzuola), ''una gatta da pelare'' (1557, Annibal Caro), ''gattamorta''.^(DELI 1999) ''Gattomammone'', a fairy-tale monster, contains ''mammone'' “monkey”, from Arabic ''maimūn''.^(DELI 1999) In the 20th century English gave ''gatto selvaggio'', a wildcat strike (American English since 1943), and ''gatto delle nevi'', a snowcat.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI|6, 612) The adjective ''gattopardesco'' (1963) comes from Tomasi di Lampedusa's novel ''Il Gattopardo''.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1190 – Raimbaut de Vaqueiras has the first record.^(TLIO)

+ * Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses ''gatto'' for a siege engine.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Late 13th century – The ''Novellino'' uses ''gatta''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses ''gattaiola'', the cat flap.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1523–1524 – Firenzuola writes ''gatta ci cova''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1528 – Paolo Giovio uses ''gatto'' for the top of a galley mast.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1798 – D'Alberti records the sense “pile driver”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1963 – ''Gattopardesco'' is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|cat]], the domestic feline; also a male cat, a [[m|en|tomcat]] (feminine [[gatta]]): ''Il gatto dorme sul divano tutto il giorno.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(zoology)'' Any of various small wild felines: ''gatto selvatico'', the wildcat.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(history, military)'' A medieval siege engine like a battering ram, with a roof.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(nautical, historical)'' The top of a galley mast.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(uncommon)'' A [[battipalo|alt=pile driver]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''Gatto delle nevi'': a tracked vehicle for grooming ski runs, a snowcat.^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''Gatto selvatico'': an offshore drilling platform, ''sciopero a gatto selvaggio'', a wildcat strike.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[gatta]]

+ * [[gattino]]

+ * [[gattaiola]]

+ * [[sgattaiolare]]

+ * [[gattamorta]]

+ * [[gattoni]]

+ * [[gattonare]]

+ * [[gatteggiare]]

+ * [[gatteggiamento]]

+ * [[gattomammone]]

+ * [[gattopardo]]

+ * [[gattopardesco]]

+ * [[gattuccio]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|cattus]]

+ * [[fr|chat]]

+ * [[en|cat]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Set phrases: ''essere quattro gatti'' (to be very few), ''essere come cane e gatto'' (to be always quarrelling), ''gatto a nove code'' (cat-o'-nine-tails), and the proverb ''quando il gatto non c'è i topi ballano''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)^(Zingarelli 2010) ''Pesce gatto'' is the catfish.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ A minor homograph is ''gatto'', an old armed barge, a Venetian vessel of a hundred oars, and in the 19th century a Baltic merchant ship;^(DEI|1772) DEI compares Medieval Latin ''catta'' (1175), Old French ''chat'' and English ''cat'' (1509) for such ships, and calls the relation between them uncertain.^(DEI|1772)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}