degno

Forms

degno (feminine degna, masculine plural degni, feminine plural degne, superlative degnissimo)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian dignu, the form of the first record, and Old Italian digno.^[2][3][4] Prato had Old Italian dengno around 1300.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dĭgnus (“worthy, fitting”).^[2][6][7][5] The Latin word had both senses that Italian keeps apart, “worthy, deserving” and “fitting, suitable”.^[5]

The word was inherited only in a few Romance languages: Occitan denh, Romansh degn and Romanian demn.^[6][5] Elsewhere it is learned: French digne (about 1050), Catalan digne, Spanish digno and Portuguese digno.^[6][5][8]

The Latin adjective belongs with the verb decet (“it is fitting”), and its neuter, used impersonally, was an equivalent of that verb.^[9][10] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *dek-no- (“worthy”) and Proto-Indo-European *deḱ-no-.^[10][1] Devoto too derived it from an older form in -no- built on the root of the verb, a root also found in Greek and Indic.^[11] Wiktionary takes the root to be Proto-Indo-European *deḱ- (“to take”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Francis of Assisi, about 1224, in the form dignu: Nullo omo ene dignu te mentovare (“no man is worthy to name you”).^[2][3] The sense is “worthy, deserving”, the first sense of every dictionary since.^[2][12] The Tuscan form degno appears in Brunetto Latini, before 1294.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used degno with di and also with a (degni a la tua consolassione, Guittone), for both good and bad desert: worthy of honour, or worthy of punishment and death.^[3][12] By 1321 Dante used it for fitness for an office, and he also used it on its own in the sense “excellent, chosen, noble”, as Latin dignus was used after the model of Greek áxios.^[2] The sense “befitting, proportionate” is recorded before 1347 in Bartolomeo da San Concordio, and “excellent” in a 14th-century translation of Livy.^[2] The TLIO also records essere degno di in the sense “to condescend to”, the meaning of the verb degnarsi.^[12]

In modern Italian the word is often ironic: è il tuo degno compare says that two people are alike in their bad habits, and una prodezza degna di te mocks a feat.^[7][13] The set phrase degno di miglior causa describes zeal or stubbornness out of proportion to its object.^[14][13] In familiar speech un boccone degno is a very good mouthful.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1224 – Francis of Assisi uses the form dignu.^[2][7]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses degno.^[2]
• 1292–1293 – Dante's Vita nuova has degna da with an infinitive.^[5]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses degno of fitness for an office.^[2]
• Before 1347 – Bartolomeo da San Concordio uses it in the sense “befitting, proportionate”.^[2]
• 14th century – A translation of Livy has the sense “excellent”.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. worthy, deserving: that merits praise or blame, reward or punishment, usually with di: un gesto degno di ammirazione.^{[7][13][15][16]}
2. Of a person, worthy of another person in virtue or social standing, often in the negative: lui non è degno di lei.^[7][13]
3. Used on its own, honest, respectable: una degna signora.^[7][15][17]
4. Fit for an office or task: un uomo degno di guidare l'azienda.^[7][13][16]
5. Typical of someone's character, often ironically: un'uscita degna di lui.^[7][13]
6. fitting, appropriate, proportionate: un degno premio.^[7][16][4]
7. (literary) Fine, excellent of its kind.^[7][16][4]

Word family

• degnamente
• condegno

Related words

• degnare
• dignità
• degnazione
• disdegnare
• sdegnare
• sdegno
• indegno
• decente
• Latin dignus

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include degno di fede (reliable, trustworthy), degno di nota (noteworthy) and degno di miglior causa.^[7][13] The adverb is degnamente, “with dignity; fittingly”.^[16][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
5. ^ a b c d e f Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 20, 472
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1235
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
13. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
17. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana