dispetto

Forms

dispetto m (plural dispetti)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian despetto and Old Italian despeto.^[2][3] The old Old Italian dispitto, in Dante, is a loan from Old French.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dēspectus (“contempt”), properly “a looking down on”, the noun of dēspiciō (“to look down on; to despise”), formed from dē- and speciō (“to look”).^[6][7][8][9]

The Latin noun lives on in Old French despit (before 1170, modern French dépit), Old Occitan despieg, Catalan despit, Spanish despecho and Portuguese despeito.^[3][7][10] DEI notes that it is found across Romance except in Sardinian and Romanian, and that the Old French word also gave English despite.^[4] The LEI keeps the inherited forms apart from learned ones, and also sets apart forms such as dispitto, which were taken from Old French.^[3]

Latin speciō goes back to Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“to look”), which is also the source of Sanskrit पश्यति (páśyati, “to look at”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Bergamasque paraphrase of the Ten Commandments, dated with a query to the mid-13th century, in the sense of an attitude of offence, hostility and contempt towards someone.^[2] DELI first finds it before 1292 in Bono Giamboni, for an act meant to annoy, and the LEI finds the sense “contempt” in Guittone d'Arezzo before 1294.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

The Latin sense “disdain, contempt” lasted in Italian from about 1300 to the 16th century, and Italian added “offence, insult”, “annoyance” and “rancour, anger”.^[3] DELI dates “irritation, vexation” to Dante.^[6] The old sense is now archaic but survives in a dispetto di, properly “in contempt of”, used for doing something against someone's will or in spite of an obstacle.^[12][2]

Tommaseo records the Tuscan proverb Rispetti, dispetti e sospetti guastano il mondo (“deference, spite and suspicion spoil the world”).^[13] In old popular poetry a dispetto was a poem in the metre of the rispetto that voiced the bitterness of a jilted lover.^[14] Dispettoso “spiteful” is recorded from the 14th century, though in Dante and others it meant “haughty”, and indispettire “to vex” from 1808.^[6][7]

Timeline

• Mid-13th century (?) – A Bergamasque paraphrase of the Ten Commandments has the word.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for a spiteful act.^[6]
• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses it for “contempt”.^[3]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for “irritation, vexation”.^[6]
• 14th century – Dispettoso is recorded.^[7]
• 1808 – Indispettire is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A spiteful act, done on purpose to annoy or harm someone: Ha nascosto le chiavi solo per farmi un dispetto.^[8][15][9]
2. Resentment, vexation, irritation, often from envy.^[8][15][9]
3. (archaic) Disdainful superiority, contempt.^[8][15][9]
4. (literature) An old popular poem like the rispetto, expressing the rancour of a deceived or abandoned lover.^[8][14]

Word family

• dispettoso
• indispettire
• dispettare

Related words

• rispetto
• sospetto
• Latin despectus
• French dépit

Usage notes

A dispetto di means “in spite of”, and per dispetto “out of spite”;^[8][15][12] a dispetto dei santi is “against everyone's wishes”.^[8][15][12] A separate obsolete, literary adjective dispetto “despised, contemptible”, from the past participle dēspectus of dēspiciō, is in Dante's O cacciati del ciel, gente dispetta (“O outcasts of heaven, despised race”).^[8][14][12] The TLIO first finds it in Guittone's letters before 1294;^[2][4][16] DEI takes it as learned, the LEI as inherited.^[2][4][16]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ 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. 19, 1477
4. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1348
5. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 383
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 4, 734
15. ^ a b c d e 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 Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 1493