commettere

Forms

commettere (first-person singular present commétto, first-person singular past historic commìsi, past participle commésso, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin committō (“to put together; to carry out; to entrust”), formed from mittō (“to send; to let go”) with con-.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb already had the three senses of joining, carrying out and entrusting.^[5][6] Festus explains that the verb properly means “to put together” and is used for “to do”, “to leave” and “to begin”, and Latin had already narrowed “to do” to wrongdoing, whence commissum (“offence”).^[7][8]

The LEI keeps apart the inherited forms ⟨commettere⟩ and ⟨commesso⟩ and the learned ⟨committere⟩ and ⟨commisso⟩.^[6] DEI suggests that the senses “to order, to entrust” may be learned.^[7] The verb lives on in all the Romance languages with different developments: French commettre, Occitan cometre and Catalan cometre “to entrust”, Spanish cometer, Portuguese cometer and Romanian cumete (“to dare”).^[3][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Parlamenti of Guido Faba (Bologna, about 1243), in the sense “to commit (a wrongful act)”.^[10] The sense “to join” follows in the Roman Storie de Troia e de Roma (1252–1258), and “to assign, entrust” in a Veronese document of 1266.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Brunetto Latini (before 1294) uses the verb both for entrusting and for committing a wrong: a cheat non teme peccato and is not afraid di cometter frode “to commit fraud”.^[2][11] Dante writes of one che mi commise questo ufficio nuovo “who entrusted me with this new office”.^[12] The joining sense, used by carpenters, is in the 14th-century Trattato d'astrologia and in Leonardo.^[2][13] Old Italian also used it for starting a battle and for stirring up strife (commettere male).^[10][14]

From entrusting work came the sense “to order goods”, recorded before 1675, and the commissioning of a painting from an artist.^[2][15] In the navy commettere means twisting yarns or strands into a rope.^[16][14] Today the sense “to commit (an error, a crime)” is the common one.^[4][17]

Timeline

• About 1243 – Guido Faba uses commettere for committing a wrong.^[10]
• 1252–1258 – the Storie de Troia e de Roma use it for joining.^[10]
• 1266 – a Veronese document uses it for assigning a task.^[10]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for “to entrust” and “to commit”.^[2]
• 14th century – the Trattato d'astrologia uses it for fitting together.^[2]
• Before 1675 – the sense “to order goods” is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To commit, perpetrate (an error, a crime, a wrong): commettere uno sbaglio.^[4][16][17]
2. (uncommon) To join, fit together closely: commettere le assi del pavimento.^[4][16][17]
3. (nautical) To twist strands into a rope.^[16][14]
4. (literary) To entrust, hand over.^[4][17][15]
5. To commission (work, goods).^[4][17][15]
6. (literary) To order, command; to recommend.^[4][1]
7. (archaic) To stir up (strife); to start (a battle).^[4][16][15]
8. (intransitive) To fit closely: Le ante non commettono più.^[4][16][18]
9. (reflexive, literary) To entrust oneself.^[17][15]

Word family

• commesso
• commettitura
• commessura
• commettitore
• scommettere
• ricommettere

Related words

• commessa
• commissario
• commissione
• commissivo
• mettere
• Latin committō
• French commettre

Usage notes

DEI divides commettere into words for “to entrust, order” and for “to join” and “to commit”, and Treccani into three;^{[7][18][2][3][4]} DELI, Nocentini and GRADIT keep one verb.^{[7][18][2][3][4]}

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
6. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 15, 1534
7. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1031
8. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 369
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 368
14. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ 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
17. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
18. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana