fedeltà

Forms

fedeltà f (invariable)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian fedeltade, Old Italian fedeltate, Old Italian fedaltà, Old Italian fedelità and Old Italian fidelità.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fidēlitās (“faithfulness, loyalty”), through its accusative case.^[4][5][6][1] GDLI calls it a learned word, while Wiktionary treats it as inherited and sets it beside the learned doublet fidelità.^[3][1] In Latin the noun was formed from Latin fidēlis + -tās, and the adjective, “faithful”, comes from fidēs (“faith, trust”).^[7][1][8]

The same Latin word gave Old French fealté, Old Occitan fezeltat, Spanish fieldad and Portuguese fieldade.^[9][3] The Old Italian form fedaltà matches the Occitan and Old French forms.^[3] The Old French word passed into English as fealty, recorded about 1300.^[10][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a Sienese letter of 1260.^[2] The TLIO's first sense is the virtue of someone always honest and correct towards another;^[2][11] DELI's first dated sense, the quality of being faithful, is in Bono Giamboni before 1292.^[2][11]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used fedeltà for faithful relationships between people, for honesty in general, for faithfulness in marriage, and in politics for the loyalty of a subject or ally, including its formal ratification;^[2] venire alla fedeltà meant to submit of one's own will to a lord.^[2] In the feudal system it named the act by which a vassal bound himself to his lord.^[5][8]

The sense of conformity to an original, as in a copy or a translation, is in Paolo Giovio in 1550.^[11] Physics and electronics later took the word for the ability of a device to reproduce a signal without distortion, and alta fedeltà is high fidelity in sound reproduction.^[5][8][12] Commerce has the carta fedeltà, a loyalty card.^[13]

Timeline

• 1260 – Fedeltà appears in a Sienese letter.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for the quality of being faithful.^[11]
• c. 1300 – English fealty, from Old French, is first recorded.^[10]
• 1550 – Paolo Giovio uses it for faithfulness to an original.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. loyalty, faithfulness: being faithful to a person, an ideal or a promise;^[5][8][6][1] fedeltà coniugale, marital fidelity.^[5][8][6][1]
2. Of an animal, attachment to its master.^[5][14]
3. Accuracy, exact conformity to the truth or to an original: la fedeltà della copia.^[5][8][6][1]
4. (physics, electronics) The ability of a device to reproduce a signal or sound without distortion;^[5][8][12] alta fedeltà, high fidelity.^[5][8][12]
5. (history) In feudalism, the act by which a vassal pledged loyalty to his lord.^[5][8]

Word family

• infedeltà

Related words

• fedele
• fede
• fidelità
• Latin fidēlitās
• English fealty

Usage notes

The noun is invariable.^[1][5] It takes the preposition a: fedeltà alla patria.^[6][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 5, 785
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana