disgrazia

Forms

disgrazia f (plural disgrazie)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian desgrazia, Old Italian disgracia and Old Italian disgrasia.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian dis- + grazia, with the negative prefix: the opposite of the noun in its senses “favour” and “grace”.^{[4][5][6][1][7]} The noun is from Latin grātia (“favour; gratitude”), from grātus (“pleasing”).^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Florentine Fiori di filosafi of 1271–1275;^[2][6] GRADIT dates the word to about 1274.^[2][6] The TLIO's first sense is a sudden worsening of relations with someone, especially a powerful person, that brings loss of favour or punishment.^[2]

Semantic evolution

DELI dates the sense “loss of someone's favour” and the sense “ill fortune, misfortune” to before 1348, in Villani and F. da Barberino.^[4] Villani writes of Narses that si venne in disgrazia della imperadrice Sofia (“he fell out of favour with the Empress Sophia”).^[8] The sense of a sudden, grievous event follows before 1431, in Andrea da Barberino.^[4] From the 14th to the 19th century the word could also mean a lack of grace, ugliness, as in the saying Al cammello lo scrigno fa grazia, alla donna disgrazia (“the hump gives the camel grace, and the woman disgrace”).^[7][9]

French took the word as disgrâce in the 16th century.^[7][10] English disgrace comes from that French word, and through it from Italian, from the 1580s.^[11] The Italian form disgrazia itself is recorded in English in 1745.^[10]

Timeline

• 1271–1275 – The Florentine Fiori di filosafi uses disgrazia.^[2]
• Before 1310 – Meo de' Tolomei uses disgraziato “unfortunate”.^[4]
• Before 1348 – Villani uses disgrazia for loss of favour.^[4]
• Before 1431 – Andrea da Barberino uses it for a sudden grievous event.^[4]
• 1539 – French disgrâce is recorded.^[7]
• 1580s – English disgrace appears, through French.^[11]
• 1745 – English records the Italian form disgrazia.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Loss of someone's favour or goodwill; the state of having lost it: cadere in disgrazia.^[6][12][13]
2. misfortune, bad luck, adverse fate: Quella famiglia ha avuto molte disgrazie.^[6][14][1]
3. An accident or sudden grievous event; a mishap that happens without anyone's fault: Non volevo romperlo, è stata una disgrazia.^{[6][12][13][1]}
4. (archaic) Lack of grace; ugliness.^[6][14][13]

Word family

• disgraziato
• disgraziare

Related words

• grazia
• English disgrace
• French disgrâce

Usage notes

In disgrazia di Dio means in a state of mortal sin.^[6][13] Other set phrases are per disgrazia “unfortunately, by mishap”, disgrazia volle che “as ill luck would have it”, and portare disgrazia “to bring bad luck”.^[6][15] The proverb le disgrazie non vengono mai sole means that misfortunes never come singly.^[13][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ 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 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 g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1338
8. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 4, 680
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana