monatto

Italian

FWOTD – 22 January 2018

Etymology

Borrowed from Lombard monatt, of uncertain origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /moˈnat.to/
• Rhymes: -atto
• Hyphenation: mo‧nàt‧to

Noun

monatto m (plural monatti, feminine monatta)

1. (historical) during the 17th and 18th centuries, a person who removed corpses during a plague, usually in Milan
   • 1827, Alessandro Manzoni, The Betrothed:

     Bisognava ogni giorno sostituire, ogni giorno aumentare serventi pubblici di varie specie: monatti, apparitori, commissari. I primi erano addetti ai servizi più penosi e pericolosi della pestilenza: levar dalle case, dalle strade, dal lazzeretto, i cadaveri; condurli sui carri alle fosse, e sotterrarli; portare o guidare al lazzeretto gl'infermi, e governarli; bruciare, purgare la roba infetta e sospetta.

     They were obliged every day to replace, every day to augment public servants of various kinds: Monatti, Apparitori, Commissioners. The first were assigned to the most painful and dangerous services of the pestilence: taking from the houses, from the streets, from the Lazzaretto, the corpses; transporting them on carts to the ditches, and burying them; carrying or conducting the sick to the Lazzaretto, and overlooking them; burning, cleansing infected or suspected goods.

Anagrams

• mattono, mattonò, montato