cittadino

Forms

cittadino (feminine cittadina, masculine plural cittadini, feminine plural cittadine)^[1] Old Italian forms include citadino, cetadino and the Sicilian chitatinu.^[2] Romagnol has zitadēn.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Italian cittade + -ino, the first part being the old form of città.^{[4][5][6][1][2][7]} The LEI sets beside the widespread Vulgar Latin *cīvitānus a form *cīvitīnus for Friuli and Italy, based on Latin cīvitās (“citizenship; city”).^[3][8] The first continues in Romanian cetățean, Old French citeain (later citoien), Old Occitan ciutadan, Catalan ciutadà, Spanish ciudadano and Portuguese cidadão; the second in Friulian citadìn and Italian.^[3][9] According to the LEI the word, like the noun for city, is a northern form that entered Tuscany and spread from there, a sign of the weight of the Lombard cities in the early Middle Ages.^[3]

The word passed into French citadin in the 13th century, and into Spanish citadino and Portuguese citadino.^{[7][9][10][1]}

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Ritmo lucchese of 1213.^[2][5] DELI dates the adjective “of the city” to the 13th century and the noun “one who has citizenship, inhabitant of a city” to about 1266, in Guidotto da Bologna.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the noun named a town dweller, as against the people of the countryside, and in law one who had the rights of citizenship of a city, as against those of the surrounding contado and foreigners.^[2] Brunetto Latini explains that people are not citizens because they live within one wall but because they live under one law.^[11] In the medieval communes a cittadino could also be of a rank between the nobility and the common people.^[12][2] The adjective meant “civic” and “internal, civil”, as in civil strife (from 1260–1261), and in Boccaccio “refined, urbane”.^[3][2]

The modern sense of a member of a state with its rights and duties goes back to the French Revolution, when cittadino followed French citoyen as the title of every member of the French state, whatever their rank.^[3][12] In French citadine named a public carriage in large cities from 1832.^[10]

Timeline

• 1213 – The Ritmo lucchese gives the first record.^[2][5]
• 13th century – French citadin is recorded.^[7][10]
• About 1266 – Guidotto da Bologna uses the noun for a citizen.^[4]
• About 1274 – GRADIT's first date for the word.^[6]
• Late 18th century – The French Revolution makes cittadino a title, after citoyen.^[3][12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of the city, of its life and inhabitants: Il traffico cittadino è peggiorato.^[6][13][12]
2. (dated) urbane, refined, as opposed to rustic.^[6][13]
3. (archaic) civic; also internal, among the citizens: lotte cittadine.^[6][13]

Noun

1. An inhabitant of a city: I cittadini di Bologna hanno votato ieri.^[6][13][12]
2. A citizen: one who holds the citizenship of a state: È cittadino italiano da dieci anni.^[6][13][12]
3. (figurative) A member of an ideal community: cittadino del mondo.^[6][12]
4. (history) In the medieval communes, a person of the middle rank between nobles and common people; in revolutionary France, the title of every member of the state.^[12]
5. A fellow citizen, concittadino.^[6][13]

Word family

• cittadinanza
• concittadino
• stracittadino
• cittadinesco
• incittadinarsi

Related words

• città
• cittadella
• civile
• Latin cīvitās
• French citoyen

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 14, 913
4. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 969
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ 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