creativo

Forms

creativo (feminine creativa, masculine plural creativi, feminine plural creative)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian creato (“created”), the past participle of creare.^[2][3] GRADIT and Sabatini–Coletti analyse it as from Italian creare + -ivo.^[4][5] Wiktionary takes it as a borrowing of Late Latin creātivus, from creātus, formed with -īvus on creō (“to create”).^[1]

The noun for a person who devises advertising campaigns is modelled on English creative.^[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Francesco da Buti's commentary on the Purgatorio (1385–1395), of the power of God that creates things: Potenzia di Dio, creativa.^[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

For centuries the word meant “of creation, that creates”, used of God and of the powers that cause effects in nature; da Buti speaks of the stars' virtù creative, the cause of lower effects as the seed is of the crop.^[6][7] It then came to mean having or showing inventiveness, of a mind or a child.^[4][3][9]

The noun creativo, a member of the creative staff of an advertising agency, entered the dictionaries in 1970.^[8] Sabatini–Coletti date it to 1971, and the GDLI quotes it from L'Espresso of 1984.^[5][10] Finanza creativa, ironically, is accounting at the edge of the rules.^[9][3]

Timeline

• 1385–1395 – Francesco da Buti uses creativa in his commentary on the Purgatorio.^[6]
• 1970 – The advertising noun is recorded in the Zingarelli dictionary.^[8]
• 1984 – L'Espresso writes of the creativi of a marketing studio.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to creation: l'atto creativo.^[4][3][9]
2. creative, inventive, showing creativity: Ha un modo molto creativo di insegnare.^[4][3][5]
3. (ironic) Of finance or accounting, fanciful and close to irregular: finanza creativa.^[9][3]

Noun

1. (advertising) A person who devises the texts and images of an advertising campaign, a copywriter.^[4][3][5]
2. An inventive, original person.^[3][9]

Word family

• creatività
• creativamente

Related words

• creare
• creatore
• creazione

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
7. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca