difesa

Forms

difesa f (plural difese)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin dēfēnsa (“defence”), a word Tertullian uses in place of classical Latin dēfēnsiō.^[2][3][4][5] The Late Latin noun was formed on dēfēnsus, the past participle of dēfendō (“to ward off, defend”).^[5][6][1] The LEI counts “difesa” as the popular continuation of the Latin word, beside learned Old Italian forms with ⟨ns⟩ such as Old Italian difensa, while GDLI calls it a learned word.^[7][3][8]

Medieval Latin “defensa” (11th–13th century) also meant land closed to grazing or cutting, and in this sense the word lives on as Old Italian and dialect “difesa” “reserved pasture”, Catalan devesa, Spanish dehesa, Portuguese defesa and Old French defois.^{[2][9][10][7]}

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Cielo d'Alcamo's Contrasto (1231–1250), a Sicilian poem in a Tuscan copy;^[8][4][11] DELI dates the word to Dante, 1293–1294.^[8][4][11] The Old Italian senses are protection from harm, armed resistance against an attack, the support of a cause against accusers, and also a decree forbidding something.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense, the arguments put forward in court for the accused, is recorded from Firenzuola (1518–1525), and Tommaseo's dictionary (1869) uses la difesa for the defence lawyer.^[4] The military sense, the means and forces for protecting a country, goes back to Guicciardini (before 1540); the plural difese for fortifications is already in Tuscan of the mid-13th century.^[4][7] In sport Pellico used difesa for defensive play in 1819, and, from 1927 it names the defenders of a football team.^[4]

Set phrases include legittima difesa “self-defence” in law, difesa personale, prendere le difese di qualcuno “to take someone's side”, ministero della Difesa, and the proverb la miglior difesa è l'attacco.^[11][6][12] The plural difese also names the body's defences against disease.^[11][13]

Timeline

• 1231–1250 – Difesa appears in Cielo d'Alcamo's Contrasto.^[8]
• Mid-13th century – Tuscan defese names fortifications.^[7]
• 1293–1294 – Dante uses the word.^[4][11]
• 1518–1525 – Firenzuola uses it for a defence in court.^[4]
• Before 1540 – Guicciardini uses it for military defence.^[4]
• 1819 – Silvio Pellico uses it in sport.^[4]
• 1869 – Tommaseo's dictionary records la difesa for the defence counsel.^[4]
• 1927 – It is first recorded for the defenders of a football team.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. defence, protection: the act or result of defending or defending oneself: Si è battuta a lungo in difesa dei diritti degli inquilini.^[11][6][13]
2. Something or someone that protects: Il cappotto è una buona difesa contro il vento.^[11][6][14]
3. (military) The positions and means used against an enemy attack.^[11][6] In the plural, fortifications.^[11][6][12]
4. (law) The case argued in court for the accused, and the counsel who argues it: La parola passa ora alla difesa.^[11][12][13]
5. (sport) Defensive play, and the defenders of a team as a group.^[11][12][14]
6. (chess) An opening system adopted by Black.^[11]
7. In the plural, the body's defences against disease.^[11][13]

Word family

• autodifesa
• controdifesa

Related words

• difendere
• difensore
• difensivo
• Latin dēfendō

Usage notes

Legittima difesa is the legal term for self-defence, and eccesso di difesa its excess.^[11][12][14]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1295
3. ^ a b 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 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
5. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 695
8. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c d 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