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disastro

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word disastro

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
late 13th century, Libro dei Sette Savi
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek ἄστρον
From the same root
English disaster ← disastro

Pronunciation

  • /diˈzas.tro/[1]

Forms

disastro m (plural disastri)[1] Old Italian also had desastro, dexastro and desastre, and Old Sicilian disastru.[2]

Etymology

It is from Italian dis- + astro, formed with the prefix in a pejorative sense, so that the word first meant “ill star, adverse fate”.[3][4][5][6] Sabatini–Coletti and the GDLI trace it to the language of astrology: a disaster was something that happened under an unlucky star.[7][8] Astro is a learned word from Latin astrum (“star”), which Latin took from Ancient Greek ἄστρον (ástron).[9][1]

Nocentini calls it an Italian formation: Old Occitan dezastre was formed in parallel and passed into Spanish desastre, while French désastre comes from Italian.[4] The LEI dates the French word from 1535, DIFIT from 1537 and DEI from 1544, and DIFIT notes the influence of the French prefix dés-.[9][10][11] Meyer-Lübke also lists Old Occitan malastre (“misfortune”), beside which benastre (“good fortune”) was formed by misreading the prefix.[12] The English word disaster, recorded from the 1590s, came through French.[13][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Tuscan Libro dei Sette Savi of the late 13th century, where it means a misfortune or adversity.[2] DELI dates the sense “misfortune of great proportions” to the 14th-century translation of Livy, where the LEI reads it as a heavy defeat of an army.[3][9]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word covered any turn for the worse, an individual's bad luck, a hardship and an unexpected event.[2] By the 15th century Giovanni Morelli used it for heavy, irreparable damage.[3][14] The modern sense of a natural catastrophe or an accident with many victims is recorded from 1567, and Giovanni Botero wrote of public disasters as the best occasion for a prince to win his subjects' hearts.[9][8]

From this the colloquial uses developed: a mess, a complete failure, and a person who causes trouble or is full of faults.[5][15][16] The derivatives followed: disastroso in the 14th century (as Sicilian desastruso) and the 16th, disastrare and disastrato in the 17th.[3][4]

Timeline

  • Late 13th century – The Libro dei Sette Savi has the first record.[2]
  • 14th century – The Italian Livy uses it for a disastrous defeat.[3][9]
  • Before 1444 – Giovanni Morelli uses it for serious, irreparable damage.[3]
  • 1535 – French désastre is recorded, borrowed from Italian.[9]
  • 1567 – Disastro is recorded for a large-scale catastrophe.[9]
  • 1590s – English disaster appears, from French.[13]
  • Before 1647 – Giovanni Battista Doni uses the verb disastrare.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A disaster, a catastrophe that destroys property or lives: Dopo l'alluvione il governo ha dichiarato lo stato di disastro.[5][15][7]
  2. Serious, irreparable damage or ruin: La siccità è stata un disastro per i contadini.[5][15][17]
  3. A serious accident with many victims, especially in transport: un disastro aereo.[5][16]
  4. (law) An offence that endangers the safety of public transport.[5]
  5. (by extension) A mess, great disorder: Dopo la festa la cucina era un disastro.[5][6][16]
  6. (colloquial) A complete failure, a fiasco: La gita è stata un disastro dall'inizio alla fine.[5][15][17]
  7. (colloquial) A person who causes trouble or is hopelessly inept: In matematica sono sempre stato un disastro.[5][15][16]

Word family

  • disastroso
  • disastrato
  • disastrare
  • astro
  • astrologia
  • French désastre

Usage notes

A disastro ecologico is a grave upset of the environment.[15] Zingarelli distinguishes disastro, a calamity with grave damage, from disgrazia, which suggests that ill fortune caused it.[16]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  7. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  8. ^ a b 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 g Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 1984
  10. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  11. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1325
  12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  13. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  15. ^ 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
  16. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  17. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana

Descendants

Cite this entry

“Disastro.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/disastro. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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