decimo

Forms

decimo (feminine decima, masculine plural decimi, feminine plural decime)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word: it is borrowed from Latin decimus (“tenth”), the ordinal of decem (“ten”).^[2][3][4][5] Latin formed it like septimus (“seventh”), unlike Ancient Greek δέκατος (dékatos), which goes back to a form in *-to-*.^[5] Wiktionary derives the Latin word from Proto-Italic *dekəmos,^[1] and the OLD compares Gaulish decametos.^[6]

Old Italian texts also have forms with a diphthong, such as Old Italian diecimo and Old Italian diesimo, among many spellings.^[7] The place name ⟨Diecimo⟩ has the same diphthong.^[1] The Latin word was inherited in Old French disme (modern French dîme) and Old Spanish diezmo, and Körting lists a northern Italian ⟨desewo⟩.^[8] The older Latin variant decumus survives only in Old Occitan deume and a few other southern Gallo-Romance and Old Catalan forms.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record in the TLIO is in the Miracole de Roma, a Roman text of the middle of the 13th century, where the word gives the tenth place in a series.^[7] DELI dates the noun “a tenth part” to 1282, in Restoro d'Arezzo, and the ordinal to before 1292, in Bono Giamboni.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word served both as an ordinal and as a fraction: a Bolognese decimo of 1276 and Dante's decima parte in the Convivio (1304–1307) give one part of a whole divided by ten.^[9][7] Old Italian also counted the hours of the day with it: the ora decima was the hour between four and five in the afternoon.^[7] As a noun, decimo was also a tax of a tenth on goods.^[5][10]

The phrase decima musa “tenth Muse” was used in 18th-century criticism and in the 19th century as praise for women poets.^[2] For the cinema it seems to have been used first in French, as dixième Muse, by Jean Cocteau in 1922, and Italian took it over.^[2] After the name of a king or pope the word gives the tenth bearer of the name, as in Pio X.^[4][11]

Timeline

• Mid-13th century – The Miracole de Roma contain the first record.^[7]
• 1276 – Bolognese decimo is used as a fraction.^[9]
• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses the noun for “a tenth part”.^[2][4]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses the ordinal.^[2]
• 1304–1307 – Dante writes decima parte in the Convivio.^[9]
• 1869 – Tommaseo records decima musa as praise for women poets.^[2]
• 1922 – Cocteau calls the cinema the “tenth Muse” in French.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. tenth: coming after the ninth in a series (written 10th or X).^[4][12][11]
2. After the name of a sovereign or pope, the tenth of that name, written in Roman numerals.^[4][11][12]
3. Being one of ten equal parts: la decima parte, a tenth.^[11][13]

Noun

1. One of the ten equal parts of a whole.^[4][13]
2. The person or thing in tenth place.^[4]

Word family

• decima
• decimale
• decimare
• decimazione

Related words

• dieci
• Latin decimus

Usage notes

Decima musa is the cinema.^[14][15] GRADIT lists a separate dialect decimo “dull, foolish”, recorded in 1362–1364 and perhaps from the Roman first name Latin Decimus.^[4] The TLIO finds it already in Boccaccio's Corbaccio (1354–1355),^[7] and Tuscan also used it for a stunted child.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1226
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 548
10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ a b 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 Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli