costume

Forms

costume m (plural costumi)^[1] Old Italian forms include costuma, costumo, custume and constume.^[2][3] Old Italian also had the plural costumora.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *costūmen (“custom”), a spoken-Latin form that replaced classical Latin cōnsuētūdō (“habit, custom”).^{[5][6][7][8][9]} DELI, following Battisti, adds that the Italian form was very probably modelled on Old French costume and Old Occitan costum;^{[10][11][12][13]} GRADIT gives Old French as the probable source, and Sabatini–Coletti think the word came through Provençal.^{[10][11][12][13]} The TLIO likewise allows for French and Provençal influence.^[2] The learned doublet is consuetudine, taken from the classical word.^[1][14]

The shape of the Vulgar Latin form has long been debated.^[14] Diez assumed an exchange of the suffix ⟨-ūdine⟩ for ⟨-ūme⟩;^[14][9] Cornu and Havel proposed different chains of sound changes;^[14][9] Gröber reconstructed a neuter and a feminine form side by side.^[14][9] Devoto explains the ending as a cross with a form related to cōnstituō (“to set up”).^[15]

The same word is French coutume, Occitan cosdumna, Catalan costum, Spanish costumbre, Portuguese costume, Logudorese costùmene, Friulian custùm and Engadine costüm.^[16][5][9] The Latin noun is formed on cōnsuēscō (“to grow accustomed”), from con- and suēscō (“to become used to”).^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur, of the last quarter of the 12th century.^[2] DELI's first record, from the Laude cortonesi of about 1260, has the sense “a person's habitual behaviour”.^[10][17]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian costume meant the habits of a person, of an animal and even of an object, the rules of good manners, moral conduct, the traditions of a people and customary law.^[2] The sense “the customs and beliefs of a society in a given age” is in Brunetto Latini before 1294, and “moral conduct” in Bono Giamboni before 1292.^[10] Petrarch writes that nature yields to habit, vinta dal costume.^[4]

The sense “dress, manner of clothing” is first recorded in the TLIO and becomes common later: DELI dates it to 1812, and DEI has it from the 16th century and costume da bagno “swimsuit” from the 20th.^[2][10][9] The word passed into French as costume, at first for customs and, from 1747 for dress, and French passed it on to English and German.^[17][9] Today costume is also the theatre costume, and di costume describes writing about social habits, as in a romanzo di costume.^[12][6]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – Costume appears in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur.^[2]
• About 1260 – The Laude cortonesi use it for a person's habits.^[10]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for the customs of a society.^[10]
• 1641 – French coustume is recorded in the sense “customs”, after Italian.^[17]
• 1747 – French costume is recorded in the sense “manner of dress”.^[17]
• 1812 – Bernardoni records the sense “dress typical of a place or time”.^[10]
• 1923–1939 – Ugo Ojetti uses costumista, the costume designer.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person's habitual behaviour, a habit: Non è suo costume arrivare tardi.^[12][6][18]
2. Moral conduct: un uomo di sani costumi.^[12][6][13]
3. The customs, beliefs and habits of a community or an age; social behaviour as a subject of study or comment: Lo studioso descrive i costumi dei popoli alpini.^[12][6][18]
4. The typical dress of a place, an age or a group: Alla sagra molti indossavano il costume tradizionale.^[12][13][18]
5. A garment worn for a special occasion, especially a fancy-dress costume: un costume da pirata per il carnevale.^[12][18]
6. The clothes of actors on stage or on screen: Ha disegnato i costumi del film.^[12][7]
7. (short for costume da bagno) A swimsuit: Ho dimenticato il costume a casa.^[1][8]
8. (archaic) The nature or property of a thing.^[12][18][13]

Word family

• costumanza
• costumare
• costumato
• costumatezza
• scostumato
• scostumatezza
• costumista
• costumino
• accostumare

Related words

• consuetudine
• consueto
• malcostume
• buoncostume
• Latin consuetudo
• French coutume

Usage notes

Donna di facili costumi is a euphemism for a woman of loose morals;^[12][6][18] in costume adamitico means stark naked.^[12][6][18] Old Italian also had a separate, rare costume “export duty” (on wool), recorded in a Sienese text of the early 14th century, from Old French custume or English customs.^[2][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
4. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
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 Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
8. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1136
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b 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 i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b c d e Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
15. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
16. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
17. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
18. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli