credito

Forms

credito m (plural crediti)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin crēditum (“something entrusted; a loan”), the neuter past participle of crēdō (“to trust, entrust; to believe”), used as a noun.^{[2][3][1][4][5]} Prati notes that it came in through the written language, and that creditore is likewise Latin creditor.^[6]

Italian, the language of medieval banking, passed the word on: French crédit is recorded from 1489–91 in the sense “standing, esteem” and, from 1675 in the financial sense, and German Kredit from 1477;^[7][1] German dictionaries trace it through French to Italian.^[7][1] English credit, from the 1540s, came through French from Italian.^[8][1] The same word is Spanish crédito, Portuguese crédito and Catalan crèdit.^[1]

The Latin verb is an old compound, Proto-Indo-European *ḱred-dʰeh₁- (“to place in the heart, believe”), with cognates in Sanskrit श्रद्धा (śraddhā́, “confidence, faith”) and Old Irish creitid (“believes”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in the TLIO and Nocentini, is a Sienese statute of 1309–10, where credito is the right to collect a sum of money.^[10][11] DELI's first record of the economic sense, a transaction in which payment is made later, is in Boccaccio in 1353.^[5][7]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used credito for a sum owed, a loan, an act of belief and the trust someone enjoyed, especially in money matters.^[10] The sense “belief, being believed” is in the 14th-century Ottimo commento on Dante, and the phrases dar credito “to believe” and aver credito “to be believed” come from it.^[5][3] The sense “good name, public esteem” is in Vespasiano da Bisticci before 1498.^[5]

From banking the word went into law, economics and public finance: credito pubblico is the capital the state borrows against interest.^[3][2] Recent uses include carta di credito and the credits of school and university study, after the American model.^[2][12]

Timeline

• 1309–1310 – A Sienese statute uses credito for a sum one is owed.^[10][11]
• 1353 – Boccaccio uses the word for a credit transaction.^[5]
• 14th century – The Ottimo commento uses credito for “belief”.^[5]
• 1477 – German Kredit is recorded in the sense “good reputation”.^[7]
• 1489–1491 – French crédit “standing, esteem” is recorded.^[7]
• Before 1498 – Vespasiano da Bisticci uses credito for “good name, public esteem”.^[5]
• 1540s – English credit “belief, faith” is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. reputation, esteem, trust: Dopo lo scandalo il giornale ha perso ogni credito.^[2][12][13]
2. Belief, credence: dare credito a una voce.^[13][3]
3. (economics) credit: an exchange in which a good, usually money, is given now against a promise of later payment; the sale of goods with payment deferred: In questo negozio non si fa credito.^[2][13][1]
4. (law) The right to receive a payment; the sum one is owed: Ho un credito di mille euro verso di lui..^[2][13]
5. Banking and lending as an economic activity, and the sector that carries it out: istituto di credito.^[2]
6. (education) A credit, a unit of study counted towards a qualification: crediti formativi.^[2][12][13]

Word family

• accreditare
• creditizio
• discredito
• screditare

Related words

• credere
• creditore
• debito
• Latin crēditum
• French crédit
• English credit

Usage notes

Essere in credito is to be owed something, the opposite of being in debito.^[13] Comprare a credito is to buy without paying at once.^[2][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 345
7. ^ a b c d e Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse