lato Italian · revision 38404

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=1193, Picene charter|origins=la latus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈla.to/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lato''' ''m'' (plural lati)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old Italian had a plural ''le latora'', and in the 13th and 14th centuries a form ''latere''.^(DEI|2177)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) Northern Old Italian forms include ''là'', ''lad'' and Genoese ''lao''.^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|2177)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|latus|t=side, flank]], a neuter noun with the stem ⟨later-⟩.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(DEI|2177) Latin already used it in mathematics (Quintilian), and in Late Latin it became a preposition: “ad latus” “beside” is found in the 4th-century “Itinerarium Burdigalense”.^(DELI 1999) The noun is panromance: [[ro|latură]], [[sc|ladu]], [[oc|latz]], [[es|lado]] and [[pt|lado]], and as a preposition [[fro|lez|t=beside]], which survives in French place names such as Plessis-lez-Tours.^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)^(DEI|2177) The derivative [[allato|t=beside]] goes back to the same prepositional use.^(REW 1935)^(DEI|2177)

+

+ DELI describes the Latin word as limited to Italic and Celtic, and Nocentini and Devoto compare [[sga|leth|t=side]] and [[cy|lled|t=half]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto 1968|254) De Vaan finds no good etymology: the Celtic words point to a different form, and a link with [[la|lateō|t=to be hidden]], for the invisible side of the body, is another possibility.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is a charter from the Marche of 1193, in the sense “side, part”.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Nocentini 2010) In 13th-century northern texts the word has the shortened forms ''là'' (the Laude), ''lad'' (Auliver's canzone) and ''lao'' (the Anonimo Genovese).^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Dante uses the word for the sides of the body: the damned under the rain “make of one side a shield for the other” (''de l'un de' lati fanno a l'altro schermo'').^(GDLI|8, 816) In 13th-century Florentine ''aver da lato'' meant “to have to hand”, and in the 14th century the word could mean a branch of a family or a faction.^(DEI|2177) The plural ''latera'' is common in Tuscan place names from the 11th century.^(DEI|2177)

+

+ The geometrical sense, a side of a polygon, appears in Leonardo da Vinci around 1496, and the side of an angle in Vincenzo Scamozzi before 1616.^(DELI 1999) The figurative sense “aspect” (''il lato comico'') and phrases such as ''da un lato … dall'altro'' are part of the modern word, and ''lato B'', the B-side of a record, is also a joking name for the backside.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1193 – A charter from the Marche has ''lato''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 13th century – Northern texts have ''là'', ''lad'' and ''lao''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 13th–14th centuries – The plural ''latere'' is in use.^(DEI|2177)

+ * c. 1496 – Leonardo da Vinci uses ''lato'' for the side of a polygon.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1556 – Daniele Barbaro uses it for the segment joining two vertices.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1616 – Vincenzo Scamozzi uses it for the side of an angle.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The right or left part of the body; the [[m|en|flank]]: ''Dorme sempre sul lato sinistro.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # The right or left part of a thing, as against its front and back; the [[m|en|side]] of a building or a road: ''il lato nord della chiesa''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # Each of the surfaces of an object or a mountain that rise from its base.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # A part or direction defined in relation to a centre or a dividing line: ''Abita dall'altro lato del fiume.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # An edge or border: ''i lati della piazza''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # Each of the two faces of a thin flat object: ''il lato A di un disco''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # ''(figurative)'' An [[m|en|aspect]] of a thing or a person: ''Cerca sempre il lato positivo.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A branch of a family: ''un cugino dal lato materno''.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(DEI)

+ # ''(geometry)'' A segment joining two consecutive vertices of a polygon; each of the half-lines that bound an angle.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[dallato]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[allato]]

+ * [[laterale]]

+ * [[la|latus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Common phrases are ''a lato'' and ''di lato'' “at the side”, ''di lato a'' “beside”, and ''da un lato … dall'altro'' “on the one hand … on the other”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) A second, literary ''lato'' means “broad, wide”: it is [[la|latus|alt=lātus|t=broad]], recorded in Bono Giamboni before 1292, and DELI quotes Aurelio Roncaglia that in the old writers it was a popular word, not a Latinism.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) Dante writes of the Harpies ''ali hanno late, e colli e visi umani'' (they have broad wings, and human necks and faces), and the adjective survives in the phrase ''in senso lato'' “in a broad sense” (1869).^(GRADIT 2003)^(DELI 1999) The GDLI also records an obsolete legal ''lato'' “promulgated”, from the past participle [[la|lātus]] of [[la|ferō|t=to carry]], and an old name of a fish, from Greek.^(GDLI|8, 819)^(DEI|2177)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}