Etymologically
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accusa

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Pronunciation

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

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