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carica

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word carica

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1262, Sienese letter
Ultimate origin
Latin carrus

Pronunciation

  • /ˈka.ri.ka/[1]

Forms

carica f (plural cariche)[1] Old Italian also had the syncopated forms carca and carga.[2][3]

Etymology

It is a noun formed from the verb caricare (“to load”), which continues Late Latin carricō (“to load a cart”), from carrus (“cart, wagon”).[4][5][6][1][7] Meyer-Lübke and the LEI think that nouns of this type, Late Latin *carrica and *carricum, may already have been formed in Late Latin, since they have early continuants across Romance.[8][9]

The same noun is French charge, Occitan carga, Spanish carga and Friulian ciàrie.[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Sienese letter of 1262.[2] DELI dates the first sense, “load, burden, baggage”, to a letter of Andrea de' Tolomei of 1269; this sense went out of use after the 17th century.[4]

Semantic evolution

From “load” the word moved to “charge, task” (1510, Machiavelli) and to “public office or dignity” (1576, Torquato Tasso), today its main sense, with the phrase in carica, “in office”.[4][10] In military Italian it named the charge of a gun, first as carga in Garzoni (1585) and as carica in Daniello Bartoli (1681), and the decisive attack of troops, recorded before 1555 in Giambullari.[4] The LEI has the attack sense from 1547, the bugle call suonare la carica from 1865, and the charge of the police against demonstrators from 1992.[9]

The age of physics and machines added the electric charge (1865, Tommaseo–Bellini) and the winding of a spring in clocks and toys (1920, Panzini).[4] Before 1943 Carlo Emilio Gadda used the word for a person's store of psychic energy, the source of phrases such as dare la carica, “to give someone energy”.[4][11]

Timeline

  • 1262 – A Sienese letter is the TLIO's first record.[2]
  • 1269 – A letter of Andrea de' Tolomei uses the word for a load.[4]
  • 1510 – Machiavelli uses it for a task.[4]
  • 1547 – The sense “attack” is recorded.[9]
  • 1576 – Tasso uses it for a public office.[4]
  • 1681 – Daniello Bartoli uses it for the charge of a gun.[4]
  • 1865 – Tommaseo–Bellini records the electric charge.[4]
  • 1920 – Panzini records the winding of a spring.[4]
  • Before 1943 – Gadda uses it for psychic energy.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A public office or position of responsibility: Ha ricoperto la carica di sindaco per dieci anni.[6][10][12]
  2. The energy or material that makes a device work, and the device that supplies it: L'orologio si è fermato: è finita la carica.[6][10][12]
  3. The amount of explosive in a cartridge, shell or mine: carica di lancio, carica di scoppio.[6][12][13]
  4. (figurative) A person's psychic or emotional energy, and the emotional force of a work: un monologo di grande carica drammatica.[6][12][11]
  5. (military) An impetuous charge of troops, and the bugle call ordering it; also a charge of police.[6][12][9]
  6. (physics) Electric charge.[13][11]

Word family

  • avancarica
  • retrocarica
  • controcarica

Usage notes

Essere in carica means to hold an office, and il campione in carica is the reigning champion.[10][11] Carica! is the order to charge.[12] A separate carica is a learned botanical word (1892) for the genus of the papaya, from Latin carica, the dried fig from Caria, which survives as a fig name in many southern and central dialects.[6][14][15]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
  8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 12, 603
  10. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  11. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  12. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  13. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  14. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 12, 104
  15. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 767
Cite this entry

“Carica.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/carica. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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