ferito

Forms

ferito m (plural feriti, feminine ferita)^[1] Old Italian also had feruto, fedito and Sicilian firutu.^[2][3] Zingarelli records the obsolete form fedito.^[4]

Etymology

It is the past participle of ferire “to wound”, used as an adjective and noun.^[3][5][6] The verb is inherited from Latin ferīre (“to strike, hit”), which in spoken Latin passed from “to strike” to “to wound”.^[3][7] The Latin verb is generally traced to Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH-, and Nocentini compares Lithuanian bárti (“to scold”) and Old High German berjan (“to strike”).^[1][7]

The older participle Old Italian feruto has the ending ⟨-uto⟩.^[3] fedito, like the old infinitive fedire, shows the dissimilation of the first /r/ to /d/.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is Giacomo da Lentini (c. 1230–1250), and DELI's is feruto in Bonagiunta Orbicciani before 1257, with the sense “having received one or more wounds”; the form ferito is in Arrigo Simintendi before 1333.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From the beginning the word was used both of bodily wounds, especially from cutting weapons, and figuratively in the language of love, of a heart wounded by love.^[2] Old Italian also had ferito a morte “mortally wounded”, and in religious writing ferito could mean burning with divine love.^[2] The noun un ferito, a wounded person, is already in the Old Italian Bible: molti di loro caddono morti, e altri feriti (“many of them fell dead, and others wounded”).^[2][8]

Today morti e feriti is the usual phrase for the casualties of a war or accident, and in heraldry a shield ferito is one pierced by an arrow with drops of blood.^[9][5] The figurative sense, hurt in one's feelings or honour, is recorded by Sabatini–Coletti and Gabrielli.^[6][10]

Timeline

• c. 1230–1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses the word.^[2]
• Before 1257 – Bonagiunta Orbicciani uses the form feruto.^[3]
• Before 1333 – Arrigo Simintendi uses the form ferito.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. wounded, injured: È rimasto ferito in un incidente stradale.^[9][5][11]
2. Of a part of the body, bearing a wound: una mano ferita.^[9][5]
3. (figurative) Hurt, offended: ferito nell'orgoglio.^[6][10]
4. (heraldry) Of a shield, pierced by an arrow with drops of blood.^[9]

Noun

1. A wounded or injured person: I feriti sono stati portati all'ospedale.^[9][5][1]

Related words

• ferita
• ferire
• feritoia

Usage notes

Scambio dei feriti is the exchange of seriously wounded prisoners between warring sides.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 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 Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
11. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana