crudele

Forms

crudele m or f by sense (plural crudeli, superlative crudelissimo)^[1] Old and dialect forms include Old Italian crudel, Old Italian crodele, Old Italian credel and Old Italian crudé.^[2] The plural was also crudei in older Italian.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin crūdēlis (“cruel”), taken through the written language.^[4][1][5][6] The GDLI calls it a semi-learned word.^[7] The Romance counterparts are French cruel, Old Occitan cruzel, Catalan cruel, Spanish cruel and Portuguese cruel.^[8][9][4]

The Latin adjective is formed from crūdus (“raw, bloody; rough, cruel”) with the suffix -ēlis.^[10][1][4] Devoto saw a step through an assumed abstract noun *crudes, on the pattern of fīdus, fidēs and fidēlis.^[11] DELI derives the Latin adjective, first “bleeding”, from cruor (“blood”).^[12] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *krowoþo- and, with a question mark, Proto-Indo-European *kreuh₂-odʰ-o- “raw”.^[13]

The same Latin word gave crudo, and crudeltà is the Latin crūdēlitās.^[12][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur, from the last quarter of the 12th century, for a person without pity.^[2] DELI dates it from Bono Giamboni (before 1292), who wrote that a cruel man is one who knows no measure in condemning when he has cause.^[12][7]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the adjective described people and personified powers without pity, fierce animals and violent wars and natural forces.^[2] In the love lyric it was an epithet of the lady and her acts.^[2] Dante calls Cerberus fiera crudele e diversa (“a cruel and monstrous beast”), and the noun crudele, “cruel person”, appears in Petrarch.^[14][6]

From people the word passed to whatever causes suffering, such as a cruel death or a hostile fate.^[5][15] Tommaseo noted that crudele a se stesso (“cruel to oneself”) was a very common phrase.^[3] Older Italian also had crudelezza (14th century) and crudelità, from Latin, beside crudeltà.^[6]

Timeline

• 1175–1200 – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur give the first record.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses the word.^[12]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses the adverb crudelmente.^[6]
• 14th century – Petrarch uses crudele as a noun.^[6][4] Incrudelire appears.^[6][4]
• 1600 – Rincrudelire is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a person, without pity for the suffering they cause; cruel, ruthless; also of fierce animals.^[5][14][15]
2. Causing pain or suffering: una fine crudele; of fate, hostile.^[5][14][16]
3. Done with cruelty: una punizione crudele.^[5][14][17]

Noun

1. (literary) A cruel or wicked person.^[5][2]
2. (rare) A painful act or event.^[5]

Word family

• crudeltà
• incrudelire
• rincrudelire
• crudelmente

Related words

• crudo
• cruento
• Latin crudelis
• French cruel

Usage notes

Zingarelli separates crudele, who feels no pity in making others suffer, from sadico, who enjoys it, malvagio, with a sense of malice, and spietato, wholly without mercy.^[16] Old Italian also had a feminine crudela.^[16][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e f g Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 353
7. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 1016
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
17. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana