--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Daniel J. Milton" <dmilt1896@...>
wrote:
>
> Is there an online Italian dictionary with etymologic information?
> I can't find one.
The etymology of It. ragazzo is given in the following link to the
online editon of O. Pianigiani's classical _Vocabolario etimologico
della lingua italiana_ (1st edn. Firenze 1907):
http://www.etimo.it/?term=ragazzo
I can tentatively summarize Pianigiani's etymological hypotheses for
those who cannot read Italian:
1) the word (from Barbarous Latin <ragàzium>) may be connected with
<ràga> (= Greek <ràke>) 'tattered garment' -- hence the possible
original meaning 'ragamuffin' (originally referred to enslaved or
servant boys);
2) the word is a cognate of English <rag> 'a scrap, fragment' (with
this stressing the fact that a boy is a 'little' man);
3) the word is a compound of the Gallo-Celtic terms <rao> 'little
and <gwas> 'a servant';
4) finally, the hypothesis favoured by Pianigiani is that the word
<ragazzo> is connected with the High Italian dialectal verb
<ragar> 'to shear', because the servile classes of the Middle Ages
had their hair shorn; the meaning 'a servant' would be in this case
the primary one, whereas the meaning 'a (servant) boy' would be a
secondary one.
Hope this helps,
Francesco