decidere

Forms

decidere (first-person singular present decìdo, first-person singular past historic decìsi, past participle decìso, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old Italian also has dicidere (Florence, Giovanni Villani).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dēcīdō (“to cut off; to settle”), a learned word.^[4][5][6][7] The Latin verb is formed from dē- (“away from”) and caedō (“to cut”), with the regular change of “-ae-” to “-ī-” in a non-initial syllable.^[4][8][7] “Caedō” was a farming word for felling trees; through legal language, where a dispute was “cut”, the compound came to mean “settle, decide”.^[9] DEI compares Italian “tagliar corto” “to cut short”.^[6]

The verb exists in learned form in several Romance languages, in both its senses: “cut off” in Middle French (Rabelais), and “settle” more widely, in Friulian decidi, French décider (in Middle French from 1403), Old Gascon “decidir” (1416), Catalan decidir (1585) and Spanish decidir (1599).^[3][5] The derivative decisivo is a loan from French décisif (Middle French 1413), and decisione goes back to Latin dēcīsiō.^[3][5]

In 1905 Panzini noted that purists rejected “deciso” “resolute” and “decidersi” “to make up one's mind” as modelled on French, and because, by etymology, a dispute can be decided but not a person.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in the Lucchese poet Gonella Antelminelli (second half of the 13th century), and the early uses in Dante and Boccaccio have the Latin sense “cut off, sever, separate”.^[2][3][4] Dante writes that from hating oneself “ogni affetto è deciso”, every affection is cut off (Purgatorio 17).^[10]

Semantic evolution

The sense “cut” was used only in the 14th century and by Saviozzo, before 1420.^[4] The legal sense “settle a question by a judgment” appears at the end of the 15th century in the Piovano Arlotto, of a question that after centuries of dispute “is still not decided or cleared up”.^[4][9] “Take a resolution” follows before 1566, in Annibal Caro, and “be decisive” before 1604, in Marcello Adriani.^[4]

The derivatives are dated early: decisore in the 14th-century statutes of the silk guild, decisione before 1375 in Boccaccio, decisivo in Paolo Sarpi (1608–1619), and decisionale only in 1963.^[4][5] The sense “cut off” is now marked obsolete.^[7][11]

Timeline

• Second half of the 13th century – Gonella Antelminelli of Lucca uses decidere.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for “cut off”.^[4]
• Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses decisione.^[4]
• Late 15th century – “Settle by a judgment”, in the Piovano Arlotto.^[4]
• Before 1566 – Annibal Caro uses it for “take a resolution”.^[4]
• Before 1604 – Marcello Adriani uses it for “be decisive”.^[4]
• 1905 – Panzini records the purists' objection to decidersi and deciso.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To settle or resolve, especially a dispute, (law) to rule on a case: Sarà il tribunale a decidere la causa.^[7][12][11]
2. (transitive) To decide, fix or establish, decidere di + infinitive, decidere che: Abbiamo deciso di partire all'alba.^{[7][12][13][1]}
3. (transitive) To choose: Non ho ancora deciso il regalo.^[7][11][1]
4. (transitive, uncommon) To persuade someone (a + infinitive).^[7][12][14]
5. (transitive) To determine the outcome of something: Un solo gol decise il campionato.^[7][12][13]
6. (intransitive, with di) To be decisive for: Quella scelta decise del suo futuro.^[7][11][14]
7. (intransitive) To make a decision, to choose between possibilities (tra, per, su): Lascio decidere a mio fratello.^[11][12]
8. (obsolete) To cut off, separate.^[7][11]

Word family

• decisione
• decisivo
• deciso
• decisore
• decisionale
• decisorio
• decidibile

Related words

• Latin caedō
• French décider

Usage notes

The pronominal decidersi means “to make up one's mind” (decidersi a + infinitive, decidersi per something).^[11][14][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 539
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1224
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 4, 76
10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana