putto

See also: Putto and put to

English

WOTD – 2 June 2020

Etymology

Anonymous, Allégorie de l’Hiver (Allegory of Winter, c. 1760), which depicts four putti around a fire.

Statues by Antonio Giuseppe Sartori of Saint Sebastian flanked by two putti (a. 1793), in Pécs Cathedral, Pécs, Hungary.

Borrowed from Italian putto (“cupid, putto; boy”), from Latin putus (“boy”), a variant of pūsus (“(little) boy”), from puer (“boy, lad; child”),[1] from Proto-Italic *puweros, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (“few, little; smallness”).

The plural form putti is also borrowed from Italian putti.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpʊtəʊ/
Audio (RP) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpʊtoʊ/, [-ɾoʊ]
Hyphenation: put‧to

Noun

putto (plural putti or (rare) puttos or puttoes)

(art) A representation, especially in Renaissance or Baroque art, of a small, naked, often winged (usually male) child; a cherub.
- 1938, “1788: Piety Weeping at the Tomb of Benevolence, a Model of a Monument to be Erected in Whitechapel Church, to the Memory of Dr [Robert] Markham the Late Rector, at the Expence of His Parishioners”, in C[harles] F[rancis] Bell, editor, Annals of Thomas Banks, Sculptor, Royal Academician: […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: At the University Press, OCLC 794658786, page 72:
  There is in the porch of the present church a tablet to Luke Flood (died 1818) which has much the appearance of having been made up of portions of earlier monuments. It is surmounted by a bas-relief of a winged boy holding an inverted torch. But not only is he a baby putto, not a youth, and without an urn, but the style and execution scarcely seem worthy of [Thomas] Banks even when not at his best.
- 1971, Jacob Bean; Felice Stampfle, “Oil Sketches by 18th Century Italian Artists from New York Collections [GIOVANNI BATTISTA PITTONI [...] 22. The Crucifixion.]”, in The Eighteenth Century in Italy (Drawings from New York Collections; III), New York, N.Y.: Metropolitan Museum of Art; Pierpont Morgan Library, →ISBN, page 333:
  The Carmelite scapulars held by the putto and young male saint on the right indicate that the altarpiece was intended for a church of the Carmelite order.
- 1973, “Analysis of Beauty: Etched and Engraved from Drawings, March 1753 [84: Plate I: Third State]”, in Sean Shesgreen, editor, Engravings by Hogarth: 101 Prints, New York, N.Y.: Dover Publications, →ISBN, column 1:
  A second putto with a gallows in its hand cries at the judge's feet.
- 1990, Oskar Bätschmann, “Deliverance – Destruction”, in Nicolas Poussin: Dialectics of Painting, London: Reaktion Books, →ISBN, part I, page 62:
  In The Youth of Bacchus (illus. 51) [by Nicolas Poussin], a painting produced before 1630, the figures are arranged in a triangle. The young Bacchus is at the top, the putti lying on the ground and the feet of the sitting figures mark the base-line and the lower corner, while the sides are designated by the nymphs and satyrs.
- 1990, Kristine Koozin, “The Vanitas Still Life”, in The Vanitas Still Lifes of Harmen Steenwyck: Metaphoric Realism (Renaissance Studies; 1), Lewiston, N.Y.; Queenston, Ont.: Edwin Mellen Press, →ISBN, page 25:
  The picture shows a putto who has just blown bubbles through a clay tube. He holds a scallop shell of soapy water and leans against a skull. [...] In picture and verse the imagery echoes classical and biblical metaphors for the brevity of a man's life. The fresh flower is in contrast to the dying tree like the putto as childhood innocence is opposed by the death's head.
- 2004, Richard [Alan] Fortey, “Up and Down”, in The Earth: An Intimate History, London: HarperCollins, →ISBN; Earth: An Intimate Portrait, 1st Vintage Books edition, New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books, November 2005, →ISBN, page 15:
  The walls [of Naples Cathedral] have ranks of white marble niches capped by huge marble scallops, and flanked by urns and flowers, drapes and putti.
- 2005, David Farrell Krell, “God’s Footstool”, in The Tragic Absolute: German Idealism and the Languishing of God, Indianapolis, Ind.: Indiana University Press, →ISBN, page 160:
  Whatever the case, the evangelical animals are appreciably larger than the puttos of the painting. The animals gaze upward, their mouths gaping. They are cawing, bellowing, roaring out the Gospel. [...] Only the attendant puttos seem to be taking the divine afflatus or descent in stride.
- 2018, Claudia La Malfa, “Copies of Raphael’s Mythological Paintings in the Collection of Cardinal Ludovisi”, in Maddalena Bellavitis, editor, Making Copies in European Art 1400–1600: Shifting Tastes, Modes of Transmission, and Changing Contexts (Brill’s Studies in Intellectual History; 286; Brill’s Studies on Art, Art History, and Intellectual History; 30), Leiden; Boston, Mass.: Brill, →ISBN, ISSN 0920-8607, page 347:
  A Galatea with Triton, 5 puttoes and 5 other figures, painted frame in fake marble and gilded, 12 palmi in height, copy of Raphael made by Caracci.

Hyponyms

(putto representing Cupid or love): amoretto, amorino, cupid

Translations

representation of a small, naked, often winged child

Belarusian: пу́та (púta)
Catalan: amoret, angelot (ca) m
Dutch: cherubijn (nl) m
Estonian: puto
Finnish: putto (fi), kerubi (fi)
Georgian: პუტი (ṗuṭi)
German: Putto (de) m, Putte (de) f, Amorette (de) f
Greek: αγγελούδι (el) n (angeloúdi)
Hungarian: puttó
Italian: putto (it) m
Japanese: プット (ja)
Korean: 푸토 (puto)
Kyrgyz: путти (putti)
Russian: пу́тто (pútto)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: путо
Roman: puto (sh)
Thai: พุตโต
Ukrainian: пу́тто (pútto)

References

“putto, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2007; “putto, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

toput, tot up

Finnish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈputːo/, [ˈput̪ːo̞]
Rhymes: -utːo
Syllabification^(key): put‧to

Noun

putto

putto, cherub

Declension

Inflection of putto (Kotus type 1C/valo, tt-t* gradation)
nominative		putto	putot
genitive		puton	puttojen
partitive		puttoa	puttoja
illative		puttoon	puttoihin
		singular	plural
nominative		putto	putot
accusative	nom.	putto	putot
accusative	gen.	puton	putot
genitive		puton	puttojen
partitive		puttoa	puttoja
inessive		putossa	putoissa
elative		putosta	putoista
illative		puttoon	puttoihin
adessive		putolla	putoilla
ablative		putolta	putoilta
allative		putolle	putoille
essive		puttona	puttoina
translative		putoksi	putoiksi
instructive		—	putoin
abessive		putotta	putoitta
comitative		—	puttoineen

Possessive forms of putto (type valo)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	puttoni	puttomme
2nd person	puttosi	puttonne
3rd person	puttonsa

Synonyms

kerubi

Anagrams

pottu, potut, putot, tupot

French

Etymology

From Italian putto.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /pu.to/

Noun

putto m (plural puttos or putti)

putto

Italian

Etymology

From Latin pūtus.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈput.to/
Rhymes: -utto
Hyphenation: pùt‧to

Noun

putto m (plural putti)

(art) putto, cherub, cupid
Synonym: amorino
(rare) child

Descendants

→ English: putto

Pali

Alternative forms

𑀧𑀼𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁄 (Brahmi script)
पुत्तो (Devanagari script)
পুত্তো (Bengali script)
පුත‍්තො (Sinhalese script)
ပုတ္တော or ပုတ္တေႃ or ပုတ်တေႃ (Burmese script)
ปุตฺโต or ปุตโต (Thai script)
ᨷᩩᨲ᩠ᨲᩮᩣ (Tai Tham script)
ປຸຕ຺ໂຕ or ປຸຕໂຕ (Lao script)
បុត្តោ (Khmer script)
𑄛𑄪𑄖𑄴𑄖𑄮 (Chakma script)

Noun

putto m

singular nominative of putta

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian putto.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈput.tɔ/
Audio (file)
Rhymes: -uttɔ
Syllabification: put‧to

Noun

putto n or m anim

(art) putto, cupid, cherub, amoretto
Synonyms: amorek, kupidyn, kupido

Declension

Neuter declension:

Declension of putto

	singular	plural
nominative	putto	putta
genitive	putta	putt
dative	puttu	puttom
accusative	putto	putta
instrumental	puttem	puttami
locative	putcie	puttach
vocative	putto	putta

Masculine animate declension:

Declension of putto

	singular	plural
nominative	putto	putty
genitive	putta	puttów
dative	puttowi	puttom
accusative	putta	putty
instrumental	puttem	puttami
locative	putcie	puttach
vocative	putcie	putty

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian putto.

Noun

putto n (plural putti)

(art) putto, cherub, cupid

Declension

Declension of putto

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) putto	puttoul	(niște) putti	puttile
genitive/dative	(unui) putto	puttoului	(unor) putti	puttilor
vocative	puttoule		puttilor

References

putto in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

[1] “putto, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2007; “putto, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

putto

English

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Hyponyms

Translations

References

Further reading

Anagrams

Finnish

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

Synonyms

Anagrams

French

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Italian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Descendants

Pali

Alternative forms

Noun

Polish

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

Further reading

Romanian

Etymology

Noun

Declension

References