accusa

Forms

accusa f (plural accuse)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian acchusa, Old Italian accuza and Old Italian acusa.^[2]

Etymology

It is a noun formed from the verb accusare without a suffix (from Italian accusare + -a).^{[3][4][5][6][2][1]} The verb, recorded from the 11th century, is a learned word from Latin accūsō (“to blame; to charge in court”), formed from ad- and causa (“cause, reason; lawsuit”).^[3][4][5][1] The same Latin verb gave French accuser, Old Occitan acuzar, Spanish acusar, Catalan acusar and Portuguese acusar.^[7] Dialect forms without the initial ⟨a⟩, perhaps through a fusion with the article, include Romansh chüsa (Engadine) and Romansh tgisa (Sursilvan).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Brunetto Latini's Rettorica of about 1260–1261, for a declaration that someone is guilty.^[2][8][3]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word also meant blame or reproach, a public denunciation and the confession of one's sins, besides the legal charge.^[2] The legal phrase atto di accusa “indictment” is recorded in a Milanese newspaper of 1812, and capi di accusa “counts of the indictment” in a news sheet of 1788, then in Tommaseo–Bellini (1865).^[3] In modern Italian l'accusa also stands for the prosecution in a trial.^[5][8] The card-game sense, declaring a scoring combination, is recorded in 1961.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1260–1261 – Brunetto Latini uses accusa in the Rettorica.^[2][8]
• 1788 – Capi di accusa appears in a news sheet.^[3]
• 1812 – Atto di accusa appears in a Milanese newspaper.^[3]
• 1961 – The card-game sense is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An accusation, a statement blaming someone for a fault or wrongdoing: Ha respinto ogni accusa di favoritismo.^[5][8][9][1]
2. (law) A charge, the act by which someone is called before a court to answer for an offence: Lo hanno arrestato con l'accusa di furto.^[5][8][6][1]
3. (law) The prosecution, the public prosecutor in a criminal trial: L'accusa ha chiesto dieci anni di carcere.^[5][8][10]
4. (religion) The confession of one's sins.^[6][2]
5. (card games) The declaration of a scoring combination of cards.^[5][9][10]

Word family

• contraccusa

Related words

• accusare
• accusatore
• accusativo
• causa
• Latin accūsō

Usage notes

Fixed phrases are capo d'accusa (count of an indictment), atto d'accusa (indictment), pubblica accusa (public prosecutor) and stato d'accusa (the state of being formally charged).^[5][9][10] In card games the regional accuso is also used, from the first person io accuso “I declare” said by the player.^[3][6][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
8. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana