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dipartimento

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word dipartimento

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
before 1691
Borrowed from
French département
Ultimate origin
French départir

Pronunciation

  • /di.par.tiˈmen.to/[1]

Forms

dipartimento m (plural dipartimenti)[1]

Etymology

In its modern senses it is borrowed from French département, from départir (“to divide into parts”), from partir (“to divide”) with the prefix dé-.[2][3][4][5] The French verb continues Late Latin dēpartīre (“to divide in two”).[6] The LEI dates the French word in the sense “part of the administration given to a minister” to 1680, and in the sense “administrative division” to 1765.[6]

An Old Italian dipartimento “separation, departure”, formed from dipartire with -mento, had existed since about 1260; the borrowed word took over its form.[7][4][6] The university department owes its spread to the prestige of British and American universities.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini, GRADIT and Zingarelli date the borrowed word to 1691 or before.[3][4][5] DELI's first record is from Bernardo Tanucci (1748), for a ministry.[2]

Semantic evolution

After the French Revolution divided France into départements in 1790, the word was used from 1796 for these districts and for those of the Italian states organised on the French model under Napoleon.[2][8] From 1813 it named the coastal zones under a naval command, such as the dipartimento dell'Alto Tirreno.[2][5] Already in 1848 the word is found for a group of chairs in a university, but the modern dipartimento universitario grew mainly under Anglo-American influence.[2] In the United States the federal ministries are dipartimenti, and the Dipartimento di Stato is the foreign ministry.[4][9] The adjective dipartimentale is attested from 1798.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1260 – Brunetto Latini uses Old Italian dipartimento for departure.[7]
  • Before 1691 – The borrowed word is recorded.[3][4]
  • 1748 – Bernardo Tanucci uses it for a ministry.[2]
  • 1796 – It is used for an administrative district of France.[2]
  • 1798 – Dipartimentale is recorded.[2]
  • 1813 – Stratico uses it for a naval coastal district.[2]
  • 1848 – It is recorded for a group of university chairs.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A department, a section of a ministry, public office or firm with its own functions: Lavora nel dipartimento risorse umane.[4][9][10]
  2. A university department, grouping teaching and research in related subjects: il dipartimento di fisica.[4][9][10]
  3. An administrative district, especially one of the French départements.[4][9][5]
  4. In the United States, a federal executive department; in some countries, a ministry.[4][9][10]
  5. (military) Each of the coastal districts of the Italian navy.[9][5][11]

Word family

  • dipartimentale
  • dipartire
  • French département

Usage notes

The older dipartimento “departure, separation”, and euphemistically “death”, from dipartire, is obsolete; dictionaries list it as a separate word.[4][5][12] The TLIO records it from Brunetto Latini's Rettorica (c. 1260).[7]

References

  1. ^ a b 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 1194
  7. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  8. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  11. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  12. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Dipartimento.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/dipartimento. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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