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compieta

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word compieta

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1306 before 1306, Jacopone da Todi More words from the 14th century
Inherited from
Latin completa
Ultimate origin
Latin compleō

Forms

compieta f (plural compiete)[1] Old forms include Old Italian conpieta, Old Italian compieda, Old Italian compita and the Latin-like Old Italian completa.[2][3] Ravenna has Romagnol chiumpeda, with the cluster moved.[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin complēta (“completed (hour)”), short for a phrase with hōra (“hour”), the hour that completes the day.[5][6][7][8][9] It is the feminine of complētus (“completed”), the past participle of compleō (“to fill up, complete”), the source of compiere.[5][7][6] Treccani thinks the Latin word is probably a shortening of completorium.[10][11]

The same word is Old French complie, Old Occitan completa, Catalan completa, Spanish completas (plural), Portuguese completa, Friulian complete and Romansh cumplet.[4][5] The LEI treats the Italian word as inherited, with ⟨pl⟩ becoming ⟨pi⟩, and the forms that keep ⟨pl⟩ as learned or half-learned.[4] Forms like conpita show the influence of the verb, as does the Old French word.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Jacopone da Todi, in the last decades of the 13th century, in the sense of the last canonical hour: terza e nona e vespertino, po' compieta sto a veghiare (“terce and none and vespers, then after compline I stay up keeping watch”).[2][12][9]

Semantic evolution

The TLIO also records the word for the prayers said at that hour.[2] A 14th-century translation of Saint Bernard explains the name: at compline the course of the day is completed.[9][13] From the hour the word came to mean the evening itself, a sense that is now rare or obsolete.[4][14][7]

Set phrases grew from it: dall'alba a compieta, all day long, and giungere a compieta, to reach the end of something or of one's life.[6][14][10] Suonar compieta innanzi nona, to ring compline before none, meant to act out of turn.[6][10]

Timeline

  • c. 1120 – Old French complie is recorded.[4]
  • 1284 – Old Catalan completa is recorded.[4]
  • Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses compieta.[12][2]
  • 1299–1312 – A Florentine account book has conpieta.[4]
  • 1305 – The statutes of the hospital of Santa Maria della Scala in Siena use compieta.[4]
  • 1324–1328 – Jacopo della Lana writes Bolognese compieda.[4]
  • c. 1370 – Boccaccio's Decameron uses compieta.[4]
  • Before 1545 – Spanish completas is recorded.[4]
  • 1815 – Zalli records Piedmontese conpieta.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Christianity) compline, the last of the canonical hours of the divine office, which closes the liturgical day.[6][15][10][1]
  2. The prayers said or sung at that hour.[6][7][16]
  3. (by extension, uncommon) Evening.[6][7][16]: dall'alba a compieta, all day long.[6][14]
  4. (figurative) The end of something, or of life: giungere a compieta, essere a compieta.[6][15][14]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 16, 515
  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 d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1037
  9. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 407
  10. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
  11. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  12. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  14. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  15. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  16. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Compieta.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/it/compieta. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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