Il suffisso -ata denominale: dall’italiano antico all’italiano di oggi

The Italian suffix -ata (as well as the corresponding suffixes in other Romance languages) has been extensively studied. However, the abundant literature available has taken into consideration from a diachronic point of view mainly deverbal -ata. The derivatives formed with denominal -ata, which present a great variety of derivational meanings connected to each other, have been studied above all in synchrony. The paper, which uses both lexicographical sources and electronic corpora, presents the historical evolution of the formation of denominals in -ata, from old Italian to the most recent neologisms; starting from the types already identified for contemporary Italian, derivatives are classified according to their derivational meaning. For each type we first illustrate its presence in contemporary Italian, then we examine its evolution in diachrony, and finally a quick comparison is proposed with Catalan, French, Portuguese and Spanish. The analysis of denominal derivatives in -ata in contemporary Italian confirms the productivity of the suffix, while from the historical point of view it is noted that almost all the derivational meanings were already documented in old Italian. However, the derivatives indicating ‘typical act of N’ and ‘event connected to N’, which are among the most productive nowadays, do not appear before the 16th century. Furthermore, we have identified a group of derivatives that designate literary or artistic genres and forms of entertainment, which can be considered at the intersection of these two types.