Etymologically
Log in

crimine

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 21 October 2026 at 20:30. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /ˈkri.mi.ne/[1]

Forms

crimine m (plural crimini)[1] Old Italian also had the shorter crime and a feminine crima.[2][3]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin crīmen (“charge, accusation; crime”).[4][5][6][1] GRADIT, Zingarelli and Gabrielli start from the Latin ablative, which Late Latin also used as a nominative.[6][3][7][1] Iacopone's early plural is the Latin neuter plural.[4][8]

The Latin noun first meant “a decision”, then in the language of law “the matter to be decided, the charge”, and finally the crime itself.[9][10][11] It is formed from the root of Latin cernō (“to sift, distinguish, decide”), with the noun suffix -men; Ancient Greek κρίμα (kríma, “judgement”) corresponds to it.[5][12][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *krey- (“to sift, separate”) with the noun Proto-Indo-European *krei-mn̥, while the OLD calls the derivation doubtful.[12][13][1] French crime and Spanish crimen have the same source.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Storie de Troia e de Roma, a Roman text of 1252–1258, for an act committed against the law and to the harm of others.[8] DELI first finds the Latin plural crimina in Iacopone da Todi, before 1306, in the phrase sine crimina “without sin”, and crimine in Filenio Gallo's Rime, before 1503.[4][14]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word was used both for crimes against the law and for sins against religious and moral values; the sense “sin” survives only in literature.[8][3] The Roman legal crimen laesae maiestatis appears as crimine lese maiestatis, and Guicciardini writes of crimine della maestà lesa.[8][14] Tommaseo, in the 19th century, describes it as a legal term for the gravest offences.[15]

The adjective criminale is older in Italian than the noun's modern use: Brunetto Latini has it before 1294.[4] The noun criminale “criminal” is recorded in 1884, criminologia in 1885, and criminale di guerra from the Moscow Declaration of October 1944.[4] Today crimine also means crime as a social phenomenon, as in lotta al crimine.[9][3] DIFIT records English crimine, later criminy, as a popular exclamation from 1681.[16]

Timeline

  • 1252–1258 – The Storie de Troia e de Roma use the word.[8]
  • Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses the adjective criminale.[4]
  • Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi has the plural crimina.[4]
  • Before 1503 – Filenio Gallo uses crimine.[4][6]
  • 1681 – The English exclamation crimine is first recorded.[16]
  • 1884 – Criminale is used as a noun for a criminal.[4]
  • 1885 – Raffaele Garofalo uses criminologia.[4]
  • 1944 – Criminale di guerra appears with the Moscow Declaration on atrocities.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A serious crime, an especially grave or cruel offence: Il processo riguarda crimini commessi durante la dittatura.[6][9][10][1]
  2. Crime as a phenomenon, criminalità: Il governo ha promesso più fondi contro il crimine..[9][10][3]
  3. (hyperbolic) A deplorable act: Buttare via questo pane è un crimine![6][9][11]
  4. (literary, obsolete) A sin.[3][7]

Word family

  • criminale
  • criminalità
  • criminalista
  • criminologia
  • criminologo
  • criminoso
  • criminosità
  • incriminare
  • recriminare

Usage notes

Crimine di guerra (war crime) and crimine contro l'umanità (crime against humanity) are fixed terms of international law.[9][3][7] Tommaseo distinguished crimine, a legal term for offences punished with the heaviest penalties, from the more general delitto.[15]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1157
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  8. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  9. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  10. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  12. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  13. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  14. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  15. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  16. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it