crisi

Forms

crisi f (invariable)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin crisis (“crisis of an illness”), from Ancient Greek κρίσις (krísis, “separation, choice, judgement”), from κρίνω (krínō, “to separate, to judge”).^[2][3][4][1] In Greek medicine the word already meant the decisive turn of an illness, which gave the modern sense “difficult phase”.^[3][5] DEI names the Late Latin medical writer Caelius Aurelianus as a source of the Latin word.^[6] The Greek verb is related to Latin cernō (“to sift, distinguish”).^[3]

The same learned word is French crise (16th century) and Spanish crisis.^[3][6] Older Italian also wrote ⟨crise⟩.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Zucchero Bencivenni, at the beginning of the 14th century, with the medical sense “rapid change in the course of an illness”.^[2] The TLIO finds it with the same sense in a 14th-century Tuscan translation of Mesue and in Gasparo da Verona.^[9] A passage of Bencivenni warns not to stop a nosebleed that comes after the crisis.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Berni joked in his Rime about the purge “that our doctors call crisi”.^[11] The figurative sense “dangerous or decisive moment” appears in Guido Bentivoglio's letters, in the early 17th century, about “the crises of these movements”.^[7][11][2] DEI dates the moral sense to the 17th century and the political and economic senses to the 19th.^[6] The sense “sudden, violent fit” is recorded in Foscolo in 1808.^[2] In the 19th century Tommaseo complained that the moderns overused the medical word.^[11]

In modern Italian the word covers personal, social, political and economic difficulties: a crisi di governo is the fall of a cabinet, a crisi di coscienza a moral turmoil, and la grande crisi the depression that began in 1929.^[4][12][8] The press of the 1980s coined crisi al buio, a government crisis with no new majority in sight.^[13]

Timeline

• Early 14th century – Zucchero Bencivenni uses crisi for the turn of an illness.^[2]
• Early 17th century – Guido Bentivoglio uses it for a decisive moment in politics.^[7][2]
• 1808 – Foscolo uses it for a sudden fit.^[2]
• 19th century – Political and economic senses appear.^[6]
• 1984 – Crisi al buio appears in la Repubblica.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine) A sudden change, for better or worse, in the course of an illness.^[4][12]
2. (medicine) A sudden attack or worsening of the symptoms of an illness: crisi epilettica.^[4][14]
3. A sudden, violent outburst of feeling: crisi di nervi, crisi di pianto.^[4][8]
4. A situation of serious uncertainty, instability or difficulty, in a person's life or in a group: Il loro matrimonio sta attraversando una crisi.^{[4][15][14][1]}
5. Embarrassment, awkwardness: mettere in crisi “to put on the spot”.^[4][8]
6. A turning point, especially in the plot of a novel; a break with the past.^[4]
7. (politics) The fall of a government, a cabinet crisis (crisi di governo); a serious international dispute.^[4][12]
8. (economics) A depression or slump of the economy, or of one sector of it: crisi economica, crisi energetica.^[4][12][1]

Word family

• anticrisi
• precrisi
• crisaiolo

Related words

• critico
• Ancient Greek κρίσις (krísis)
• French crise

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 124
6. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1161
7. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 349
8. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
9. ^ Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3
11. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. Supplemento 2009
14. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier