fiducia

Forms

fiducia f (plural fiducie)^[1] Old forms include fiduzia, and in the north fedhusia, feduxia and fiuxia.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowed from Latin fīdūcia (“trust, confidence”), derived from fīdō (“to trust”).^[5][6][7][8] The Latin noun is formed on an unattested adjective *fīdūcus, built on the verb as cadūcus (“falling”) is on cadō (“to fall”).^[9][10][1] Sabatini–Coletti derives it from the related adjective fīdus (“faithful”).^[11]

Latin fīdō goes back to Proto-Italic *feiþe- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰeydʰ- (“to trust”), the root of Ancient Greek πείθομαι (peíthomai, “to be persuaded, obey”); fidēs (“faith”) and foedus (“treaty”) belong to the same family.^[12]

In northern Old Italian the word took a more popular shape, Old Italian fedùsia.^[4][2] Portuguese fiuza and Spanish hucia are inherited forms of the same Latin noun.^[6][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Andrea da Grosseto's Tuscan translation of Albertano da Brescia (1268), and Zingarelli dates the word to the same year;^[2][14][5] DELI's first date is Domenico Cavalca (before 1342).^[2][14][5] The early sense was the state of mind of someone who expects things to turn out as they hope, with shades of self-confidence and of trust that someone will not let one down; in religious texts it comes close to “faith”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used sotto sicura fiducia for “under safe escort”.^[2] The 14th-century Bible translations already have fiducia as trust in an ally: “What is this trust in which you trust?”^[3] Tommaseo distinguished it from speranza: trust cannot exist without hope, but it is a more lasting feeling.^[15]

The Roman legal sense, a contract by which a thing was handed over to someone to be returned later, entered the dictionaries from Latin law;^[14][16][3] Isidore defines it.^[14][16][3] In modern Italian di fiducia means “trusted, chosen by oneself” (persona di fiducia, medico di fiducia), and in parliamentary language fiducia is the support of Parliament for the Government, voted in a voto di fiducia or demanded with a questione di fiducia.^[7][8][17]

Derivatives followed slowly: sfiduciare (16th century), fiduciario from Latin fiduciarius (1673), sfiduciato (1845), fiducioso (before 1861) and sfiducia (1873).^[6]

Timeline

• 1268 – Andrea da Grosseto uses fiducia.^[2]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca has fiducia in the sense of trust.^[5]
• 16th century – Sfiduciare is recorded.^[6]
• 1673 – Fiduciario is recorded.^[6]
• 1845 – Sfiduciato is recorded.^[6]
• Before 1861 – Fiducioso is recorded.^[6]
• 1873 – Sfiducia is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. trust, confidence: the sense of security that comes from relying on someone or something, or on oneself: Dopo tanti anni ho piena fiducia nel mio socio.^[7][8][11]
2. faith, especially in God.^[7]
3. Credit, good reputation: È un negozio che gode della fiducia dei clienti.^[7][8]
4. (politics) The confidence of Parliament in the Government, expressed by a vote: La Camera ha votato la fiducia al governo.^[7][8][17]
5. (law, history) In Roman law, a contract by which a thing was entrusted to someone to be given back later or passed on to others.^[14][16]

Word family

• fiducioso
• sfiducia
• sfiduciare
• sfiduciato
• fiduciante

Related words

• fidare
• fido
• fiduciario
• Latin fīdūcia

References

1. ^ a b c 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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1634
5. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
14. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana