croce

Forms

croce f (plural croci)^[1] Old Italian forms include cruce, croxe and crose.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin crux (“cross, gallows”), through its accusative crucem.^[3][4][5][1] The word is panromance: French croix, Occitan croz, Catalan creu, Spanish cruz, Portuguese cruz, Sardinian rughe and Romanian cruce.^[4][6][7] It spread to other European languages, as German Kreuz and, through Middle Irish cros, the English word cross.^[4][6]

The origin of the Latin word is unclear.^[3][4][8] DELI calls it pre-Indo-European and Devoto Mediterranean.^[3][9] Nocentini reports the view that it was taken from Punic, because crucifixion reached Rome from Carthage during the Punic Wars.^[4] De Vaan notes possible Celtic and Germanic relatives for “heap, hill” and “back”, such as Irish crúach (“heap, hill”), Old Norse hryggr (“backbone”) and Old English hrycg (“back”), but finds the root shape un-Indo-European; the word may be a substrate word taken into Italic and Celtic, or a Latin borrowing from a neighbouring language.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Monza Glossary of the 10th century.^[2] DELI's first dated sense is the ancient instrument of execution, two beams fixed crosswise to which the condemned man was nailed and left to die, in Bono Giamboni before 1292.^[3]

Semantic evolution

By the end of the 13th century croce also meant any object, sign or symbol shaped like a cross (Novellino), and soon after “torment, suffering”, recorded before 1347 in Bartolomeo da San Concordio.^[3] Giovanni Villani used it for the cross as the badge of a chivalric order or a charge in a coat of arms.^[3] Old Italian had prendere and predicare la croce for joining or preaching a crusade.^[2][10] The derivative crociata “crusade” is recorded before 1313 in Cecco Angiolieri.^[3] The TLIO also records croce for a crossroads, for the transept of a church and for the Roman numeral ten.^[2]

Modern compounds and phrases include crocevia “crossroads” (before 1465), Croce Rossa (1864) and crocerossina “Red Cross nurse” (1918).^[3][4] Croce uncinata “swastika” is a calque of Hakenkreuz, and the coin game testa o croce “heads or tails” is named from the cross once stamped on coins, though DELI notes that the name of the game is recent.^[3]

Timeline

• 10th century – The word appears in the Monza Glossary.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses croce for the instrument of execution.^[3]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses it for an object or sign shaped like a cross.^[3]
• Before 1313 – Cecco Angiolieri uses crociata.^[3]
• Before 1347 – Bartolomeo da San Concordio uses croce for torment.^[3]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it for the badge of an order.^[3]
• 1864 – Croce Rossa is first recorded.^[4]
• 1918 – Crocerossina is first recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cross, the ancient instrument of execution made of two crossed beams;^[5][11][1] (by antonomasia) the Cross on which Jesus died; crucifixion.^[5][11][1]
2. The cross as the symbol of Christianity.^[5][12]
3. (figurative) A burden, affliction, suffering; also a person who is a constant trial: Quel figlio è la sua croce.^[5][11][1]
4. A cross as an object, often stylised, on a bell tower, an altar or a grave: una croce di ferro battuto.^[5][12]
5. Segno della croce: the sign of the cross made with the right hand.^[5][13][14]
6. The badge of the crusaders;^[12][15] prendere la croce, to join a crusade.^[12][15]
7. The emblem of a humanitarian organisation, as the Croce Rossa.^[12]
8. (heraldry) A cross as a charge; a cross as the insignia of an order or a decoration: croce al merito di guerra.^[12][1]
9. Any cross-shaped mark, such as the one made by a voter or by someone who cannot write his name.^[12][14]

Word family

• crociata
• crociato
• crocevia
• crocicchio
• crociera
• crocifiggere
• crocifisso
• crocifissione
• crocifero
• crocesegnare
• crocerossina
• incrociare
• cruciverba
• cruciforme

Related words

• crocesegno
• crociare
• crociforme
• Latin crux

Usage notes

Common phrases are mettere in croce “to torment”, fare una croce sopra “to give something up for good”, a occhio e croce “roughly, at a guess” and testa o croce “heads or tails”.^[11][14][5] In veterinary use croce is also the withers of a horse.^[16][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 350
11. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1168
17. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET