criminale

Forms

criminale m or f by sense (plural criminali)^[1] Old Italian forms include creminale, cherminale and crimenal.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin crīminālis (“relating to crimes”), a learned word of legal Latin, from Latin crīmen (“charge, accusation; crime”).^{[3][4][5][1][6]} In Latin the adjective meant “criminal” as opposed to “civil”, and the noun moved from “accusation” to “crime”.^[6][7][8] French criminel has the same source and is recorded from the 12th century.^[9]

Wiktionary derives the Latin noun from Proto-Italic *kreimən and Proto-Indo-European *kréymn̥, built on *krey- (“to sift”), the root of cernō (“to sift; to decide”), and compares Ancient Greek κρῖμα (krîma, “judgement”).^[1] The OLD calls this explanation doubtful.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is an Umbrian confession formula from Norcia, of 1065.^[2][8] Old Italian used the word for acts punished by law and for offences against morality and religion: peccati criminali were the seven deadly sins.^[2] DELI's first dated sense is “criminous”, in Brunetto Latini before 1294, and “relating to crime” follows in Matteo Villani, before 1363.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the legal sense criminale long stood against civile: Matteo Villani writes of a judge famous “in the practice of criminal and civil suits” (de’ piati criminali e civili).^[10] As a masculine noun il criminale was criminal law or the criminal court, as in Machiavelli, and also a crime.^[11][12][8] Today penale has taken over most of these uses.^[13][8]

The noun for a person with a strong tendency to antisocial behaviour comes from 19th-century criminal anthropology: DELI's first record is the title of a study by G. B. Bono, Turin, 1884.^[3] DEI dates criminalità to the 14th century, criminalista to the 17th and criminaloide to the 20th, and relates criminale di guerra to a declaration of 1944.^[9] The manicomio criminale, an asylum for offenders judged insane, has since been renamed ospedale psichiatrico giudiziario.^[13]

Timeline

• 1065 – An Umbrian confession formula from Norcia has the word.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for “criminous”.^[3]
• Before 1363 – Matteo Villani uses it for what relates to crime.^[3]
• 17th century – Criminalista appears.^[9]
• 1884 – Criminali for people with criminal tendencies, in a study by G. B. Bono.^[3]
• 1944 – A declaration defines the criminale di guerra, according to DEI.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to crime: indagine criminale, polizia criminale.^[5][13][7]
2. (uncommon) Penal: diritto criminale.^[5][13][8]
3. Criminal in nature, delittuoso: un atto criminale.^[5][13][7]
4. (by extension) Extremely reprehensible: È criminale lasciare un cane chiuso in macchina d'estate.^[5][13][7]

Noun

1. A criminal, someone guilty of serious crimes, a delinquente: I due criminali sono stati fermati al confine.^{[5][13][7][1]} A criminale di guerra is a war criminal.^[13][8]
2. (by extension) Someone whose behaviour is dangerous or harmful to others: Chi guida ubriaco è un criminale.^[5][13][7]

Word family

• criminalità
• criminalista
• criminalistica
• criminalizzare
• criminalmente
• criminaloide

Related words

• crimine
• criminoso
• Latin crimen
• French criminel

Usage notes

Set phrases include antropologia criminale and psicologia criminale, the sciences that study crime and offenders.^[5][13][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1157
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 970
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier