Etymologically
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accusare

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Pronunciation

  • /ak.kuˈza.re/[1]

Forms

accusare (first-person singular present accùso, first-person singular past historic accusài, past participle accusàto, auxiliary avére)[1] The oldest form, in an Umbrian text, is Old Italian adcusare.[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin accūsō (“to accuse”), a learned word, from ad- and causor (“to plead as an excuse”), a verb from causa (“cause, lawsuit”).[3][4][5][6] The LEI, however, files the Italian verb among the inherited outcomes of the Latin, with French accuser (from the 10th century), Old Occitan acuzar, and Spanish acusar, Catalan acusar and Portuguese acusar.[2] Forms without the initial vowel, perhaps from a misdivision of the article and noun (⟨l'accusa⟩ read as ⟨la cusa⟩), include Engadine chüsa “accusation”.[2]

The noun accusa is a back-formation from the verb.[3] The card term accuso, a declaration at cards, is more probably the first person singular ⟨io accuso⟩ “I declare” used as a noun.[3] The grammatical accusativo is Latin accūsātīvus, an inexact rendering of Ancient Greek αἰτιατική (aitiatikḗ), the “case of what is caused”, which Latin grammarians understood as the case of the accusation.[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is an Umbrian confession formula of 1065–1080, from Norcia, with the sense “to blame, to hold guilty”.[7][3][6] The LEI dates the form adcusare to about 1080.[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb also meant to confess one's own sins, to bring a charge in court, and to reveal or declare: Dante uses it for “to make known”.[7][3] Boccaccio has it for “to show, to betray” about 1336.[2]

Annibal Caro, before 1566, used it for acknowledging a letter, and Redi, before 1698, wrote accusar la ricevuta;[3] DEI and Panzini took accusare ricevuta as a calque of French accuser réception (1823), but DELI notes that the Italian is older than that phrase.[3] The card-game sense is recorded in 1688.[3] Accusare un dolore “to complain of a pain”, noted in the 18th century, entered doctors' usage only in the 19th.[3] Sports language added accusare il colpo “to show the effect of a blow”, said of fencers and boxers and figuratively of anyone hit by a setback.[8][5]

Timeline

  • 1065–1080 – An Umbrian confession formula has adcusare.[7][3]
  • Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses accusa and accusatore.[3]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses it for “to reveal”.[3]
  • Before 1566 – Annibal Caro uses it for acknowledging a letter.[3]
  • 1688 – The sense “to declare at cards” is recorded.[3]
  • Before 1698 – Redi writes accusar la ricevuta.[3]
  • Before 1758 – Antonio Cocchi uses it in medicine, for showing a symptom.[3]
  • 1823 – French accuser réception is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To accuse, to blame; to reproach someone with something, followed by di: Lo accusano di aver tradito la squadra.[5][9][10]
  2. (law) To charge someone before the courts with an offence: È stato accusato di frode.[5][9][6]
  3. To feel and declare a pain or ailment: Il paziente accusa un forte mal di testa.[5][9][10]
  4. To show, to reveal; to suffer visibly from something: Dopo la salita il ciclista accusava la stanchezza.[5][9][11]
  5. (bureaucratic) To acknowledge: accusare ricevuta, to confirm receipt of a letter or parcel.[9][10][6]
  6. (card games) To declare a combination or points.[5][9][10]
  7. (fencing) To admit having been touched.[5][9][6]
  8. (reflexive accusarsi) To declare oneself guilty.[10][6][11]

Word family

  • accusa
  • accusabile
  • accusativo
  • accusato
  • accusatore
  • accusatorio
  • accuso

Usage notes

Accusare il colpo means to show the effect of a blow, literally or figuratively.[6][11][8] The past participle accusato is also a noun, “the accused”.[3][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 336
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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 e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  7. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  8. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  10. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  11. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana