fededegno

Forms

fededegno (feminine fededegna, masculine plural fededegni, feminine plural fededegne)^[1] It is also written fede degno and fidedegno.^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin fidē dignus (“worthy of trust”), a Latin phrase written as one word.^[2][3][4][1] In the phrase fidē is the ablative of fidēs (“faith, trust”) and is governed by dignus (“worthy”).^[5] DEI gives the Latin model as fideī dignus, shaped on Ancient Greek ἀξιόπιστος (axiópistos, “trustworthy”).^[6][7] Tommaseo also cites a single word deodignus from Pope Sixtus.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the first record to 1348–1353 and Zingarelli to 1353;^[3][8][2][4] Nocentini and Devoto–Oli place it in the mid-14th century.^[3][8][2][4] The sense is “worthy of belief, trustworthy”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Tommaseo cites a translation of Augustine's City of God for fededegne testificazioni (“trustworthy testimonies”), and Boccaccio's Introduction for the word used as a noun: da fededegno udito l'avessi (“had I heard it from a trustworthy person”).^[7] He marked the word obsolete and regretted that such handy compounds fell out of use.^[7] Modern dictionaries record it as literary or elevated, said of people and of testimony.^[4][8][9]

Timeline

• 1348–1353 – the first record in GRADIT.^[3]
• 1353 – the first record in Zingarelli.^[8]
• 1861 – Tommaseo marks the word obsolete.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (literary) Worthy of belief, trustworthy, reliable, of a person or of testimony: un testimone fededegno.^[3][4][5][9]

Related words

• fede
• degno
• attendibile
• Latin fidēs
• Latin dignus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1612
7. ^ a b c d e Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET, p. 2, 729
8. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)