lotta Italian · revision 39151

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=1290s, Jacopone da Todi|origins=la luctor}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈlɔt.ta/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lotta''' ''f'' (plural lotte)^(Wiktionary)

+ The older form ''lutta'' was used by Boccaccio and later by poets such as Petrarch and Tasso.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO)^(Prati 1951|603)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la-lat|lucta|t=wrestling; struggle]], from [[m|la|luctor|t=to wrestle]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The Late Latin noun is probably a back-formation from the verb on the model of [[m|la|pugna|t=fight]] beside [[m|la|pugnō|t=to fight]].^(OLD 2012)^(DEI|2272)^(Wiktionary) The noun is found across the Romance languages: [[fr|lutte]] (Old French [[m|fro|luite]]), [[oc|locha]], [[ca|lluyta]], [[es|lucha]], [[pt|luta]] and [[ro|luptă]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) Battaglia's dictionary calls the Italian word learned.^(GDLI)

+

+ The Latin verb was active in Old Latin and deponent in classical Latin.^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan explains it as a frequentative formed from a participle meaning “bent”, from [[ine-pro|*lug-to-]], and compares [[grc|λύγος|tr=lúgos|t=withy, twig]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is in Iacopone da Todi, in the last decade of the 13th century, with the sense of a fight without weapons.^(TLIO) Boccaccio describes it as a game: young men “wrestled, and this game is called ''lutta''” (''usavano il fare alle braccia, e questo giuoco si chiama lutta'').^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Already in Old Italian the word stretched from the wrestling match to any violent conflict, and figuratively to an intense effort of the soul.^(TLIO) The sense of a contest between persons or groups is recorded for ''lutta'' before 1575 and for ''lotta'' before 1667.^(DELI 1999) In Ariosto and Tasso the knights train ''alla lotta'' in tournaments and games.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ The 19th and 20th centuries added the political and social senses: ''lotta di classe'', class struggle in Marxist doctrine, ''lotta per l'esistenza'', Darwin's struggle for existence, and ''lotta armata'', the armed struggle of terrorist groups.^(Treccani 2011)^(Zingarelli 2010) The word also names a campaign against a social ill (''lotta contro la droga'') and, in agriculture, the control of pests (''lotta biologica'').^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) As a sport it is wrestling, with Greco-Roman and freestyle styles;^(Treccani 2011)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(DELI 1999) ''lotta giapponese'' is judo or jujitsu.^(Treccani 2011)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1290s – Iacopone da Todi uses ''lutta''.^(TLIO)

+ * Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses ''lutta'' for wrestling.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1575 – Benedetto Dell'Uva uses ''lutta'' for a contest between persons.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 16th century – Francesco De Marchi uses ''lotta'' for a sod of turf.^(DEI|2272)

+ * Before 1595 – Torquato Tasso uses the form ''lotta''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1667 – G. A. Marini uses ''lotta'' for a conflict between persons.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(sport)'' [[m|en|wrestling]]: hand-to-hand combat between two athletes, each trying to pin the other's back and shoulders to the mat: ''lotta greco-romana''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # A [[m|en|fight]], a physical struggle between people or animals in which each tries to overcome the other: ''Nella stanza c'erano segni di lotta.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # An armed struggle, a battle: ''la lotta partigiana''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # A conflict between persons or groups competing for a goal: ''lotte sindacali''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # A campaign to defeat a social ill or a disease: ''la lotta contro l'analfabetismo''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # ''(agriculture)'' The control of harmful organisms: ''lotta biologica''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # An inner, spiritual [[m|en|struggle]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[lottare]]

+ * [[lottatore]]

+ * [[la|lucta]]

+ * [[fr|lutte]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ DEI and Battaglia list a separate, obsolete ''lotta'', a sod of turf used to face earthworks (16th century), of uncertain origin, perhaps Mediterranean, compared with Anconitan ''lòtta'' and Milanese ''lòta'' “clod”.^(DEI|2272)^(GDLI) Battaglia also has an old ''lotta'' “lottery”, formed from ''lotto''.^(GDLI)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}