vuoto Italian · revision 38335

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=before 1294, Brunetto Latini|origins=la vacō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈvwɔ.to/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vuoto''' (feminine vuota, masculine plural vuoti, feminine plural vuote)^(Wiktionary)

+ The older and popular form is ''voto'', written ''vôto'' by some to tell it from ''voto'' “vow”.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) Old forms include ''voito'' and ''boito'' in Guittone d'Arezzo and ''vodo'' in Dante.^(DEI|4094)^(Prati 1951|1064)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la-vul|*vocitus|t=emptied]], a variant of [[m|la-vul|*vacitus]], the past participle of a verb [[m|la-vul|*vaceō|alt=*vacēre|t=to be empty]] that stood beside classical [[la|vacō|t=to be empty, free]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(REW 1935) DEI finds the unrecorded verb presupposed by Lucretius's [[m|la|vacēfīō|t=to become empty]].^(DEI|4094) DELI credits the etymology to Vilhelm Thomsen, who argued for it in 1875 after earlier attempts had run into difficulties, and Meyer-Lübke rejected Diez's derivation from [[m|la|vacuus|t=empty]].^(DELI 1999)^(REW 1935)

+

+ The vowel ⟨o⟩ is supported by the old form [[roa-oit|voito]], by [[sc|bóidu]] and by Latin [[m|la|vocīvus]] beside [[m|la|vacīvus|t=empty]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|4094) Guittone d'Arezzo writes “di fora pieno, e voito dentro” (“full outside, and empty inside”).^(DELI 1999) Nocentini explains the loss of the ⟨c⟩ by an early voicing of /k/ to /ɡ/, which was then lost before /i/ as in [[mai]] from [[la|magis]].^(Nocentini 2010) DEI and Devoto see in the form the northern sound changes: with the intervocalic consonant dropped, the diphthong of ⟨voito⟩ was reduced.^(DEI|4094)^(Devoto 1968|476)

+

+ The same word is [[fr|vide]], [[oc|vueid]], [[ca|buit]], [[fur|vueid]] and [[rm|vöd]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)^(DEI|4094) The learned [[vacuo]] continues the Latin adjective.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record, as ''vôto'', is in Brunetto Latini before 1294, for something with nothing inside it;^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Nocentini 2010) Nocentini dates the word to 1268.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Nocentini 2010) The diphthong form ''vuoto'' is first found around 1350 in the Italian translation of Pietro de' Crescenzi.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The figurative sense “lacking, devoid of” is in Petrarch in 1374.^(DELI 1999) As a noun the word was used in the 14th century by Giovanni Villani for an empty space, and the ''Ottimo'' commentary on Dante already mentions philosophers who held that a void exists.^(DEI|4094)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) Anton Maria Salvini called the question of the void much debated among ancient and modern physicists, and Tommaseo remarks that the horror of the void, banished from physics, survives elsewhere.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) Modern senses are later: an empty container (1840), and the physical sense of a rarefied space in a vessel or valve (1961).^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The verb ''vuotare'' appears as ''votare'' in Boccaccio (1348–1353).^(DELI 1999) Compounds include ''vuotaborse'' (1583), the old ''vuotacessi'' (15th century), and the modern kitchen tools ''vuotamele'' and ''vuotazucchine''.^(Nocentini 2010) In music ''corda vuota'' (1791) is an open string, and German borrowed ''Vuoto'' as a musical term.^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1268 – Nocentini's date for the first record.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses ''vôto''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses the verb ''votare''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * c. 1350 – The form ''vuoto'' appears in the Italian Crescenzi.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1374 – Petrarch uses it in the sense “devoid of”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1791 – Corda vuota “open string” is recorded.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1840 – The noun is recorded for an empty container.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1875 – Vilhelm Thomsen publishes his etymology.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|empty]], with nothing inside: ''Il frigorifero è vuoto.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # Without people, or with few people: ''In agosto la città è vuota.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # Of a seat, free; of a house, unoccupied or unfurnished.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # ''(figurative, with di)'' [[m|en|devoid]] of: ''frasi vuote di senso''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Without meaning, purpose or content; of a person, shallow: ''Ha passato una giornata vuota.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(heraldry)'' Of a figure, drawn only in outline.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # Empty space, the [[m|en|void]]: ''guardare nel vuoto''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(physics)'' A [[m|en|vacuum]], a space without matter or with very rarefied gas.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(DELI 1999)

+ # An empty container, such as a returnable bottle.^(DELI 1999)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A gap, a lack, a sense of emptiness: ''La sua partenza ha lasciato un vuoto.''^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[vuotare]]

+ * [[svuotare]]

+ * [[sottovuoto]]

+ * [[semivuoto]]

+ * [[vuotaggine]]

+ * [[vuotezza]]

+ * [[vuotaborse]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[vacuo]]

+ * [[vacare]]

+ * [[vano]]

+ * [[fr|vide]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Fixed phrases include ''a mani vuote'' “empty-handed”, ''a stomaco vuoto'' “on an empty stomach”, ''vuoto di memoria'' “memory lapse”, ''andare a vuoto'' “to come to nothing” and ''sotto vuoto'' “vacuum-packed”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}