-atico
Italian
Etymology
Most likely inherited from Latin -āticus. Doublet of -aggio, from Old Occitan or Old French.
This suffix was traditionally seen as a borrowing from Latin, as it was believed that -āticus would be expected to develop into *-acco via syncope of the post-tonic vowel (such as in freddo < frigidus); furthermore, most words formed with this suffix are learned terms, such as problematico (← problēmaticus).
However, the claim that *-acco is the regular reflex of -āticus is unwarranted; Fleischman (citing E. L. Dawson) notes that "a thorough examination of Medieval Latin and Italian texts has not only failed to produce a single example in *-acco, but also discovered none showing syncope of the posttonic vowel between a dental and a velar". She also adduces a solid core of non-learned formations using -atico, such as lugliatico (< Medieval Latin iūliāticus).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈa.ti.ko/
- Rhymes: -atiko
- Hyphenation: -à‧ti‧co
Suffix
-atico (adjective-forming suffix, feminine -atica, masculine plural -atici, feminine plural -atiche)
- used to derive adjectives with a meaning of “of, pertaining to”
- iniziare (“to initiate”) + -atico → iniziatico (“initiatory”)
- magma + -atico → magmatico (“magmatic”)
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
- Charles H. Grandgent (1927), “Phonology”, in From Latin to Italian: An Historical Outline of the Phonology and Morphology of the Italian Language, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, DOI:, page 90.
- Suzanne Fleischman (1976), “The Apennine Penninsula and Sardinia”, in Cultural and Linguistic Factors in Word Formation: An Integrated Approach to the Development of the Suffix -age (University of California Publications in Linguistics; 86), Berkeley: University of California Press, →ISBN, pages 240-241.
Latin
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈaː.ti.koː/, [ˈäːt̪ɪkoː]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈa.ti.ko/, [ˈäːt̪iko]