giudicare

Forms

giudicare (first-person singular present giùdico, first-person singular past historic giudicài, past participle giudicàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] The Latinizing Old Italian iudicare is literary and old, and Old Italian also had giudigare.^[2][3][4] In the Middle Ages Genoa had Old Italian zuegàr and Lombardy zuiàr, “to condemn”.^[5][6]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Latin iūdicō (“to judge, pass judgement”), from iūdex (“judge”).^{[7][8][9][10][1]} GDLI calls it a semi-learned word.^[4] Like the noun, the verb is analysed as iūs (“law”) and dīcō (“to say”), “to pronounce the law”; only later, as the strict legal sense faded, did it take on the wider meaning “to consider, think”.^[7][9]

The verb is pan-Romance: French juger (the source of English judge), Occitan jutjar, Catalan jutjar, Spanish juzgar, Portuguese julgar and Romanian judeca.^[8][11][5] Latin already had the participle iūdicātus, while giudicatore is an Italian formation and giudicatura perhaps a loan from Spanish.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Gallo da Pisa, in the 13th century, with the sense “to assess according to qualities or merits”.^[7] GDLI quotes him: slanderers should be whipped, ca per li fini amanti è giudicato (“for so it is judged by true lovers”).^[4] Meo Abbracciavacca, also in the 13th century, uses it for “to consider, deem”, and Guittone d'Arezzo (before 1294) for “to exercise judgement”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses the verb for deciding a case by sentence (before 1321) and intransitively for expressing judgements (1304–1308).^[7] In Old Tuscan it also meant “to bequeath, dispose of”, a sense still recorded as obsolete with “to award”.^[5][12]

Derivatives multiplied in the legal language: giudicato “a judged matter” (14th century), passare in giudicato of a final sentence (1673), giudicatura “body of judges” (1668), and giudicabile (1814), which Pietro Giordani proposed as a noun for the accused.^[7] Giudicato was also the name of each of the four medieval states of Sardinia.^[7] The proverb mal si giudica il cavallo dalla sella warns that appearances deceive.^[3]

Timeline

• 13th century – Gallo da Pisa uses giudicare.^[7]
• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses it for exercising judgement.^[7][9]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses it intransitively.^[7]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for deciding a case.^[7]
• 1668 – Giudicatura is recorded in Lorenzo Magalotti.^[7]
• 1673 – Passare in giudicato is recorded.^[7]
• 1814 – Giudicabile is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To judge, assess morally or aesthetically: Non giudicare un libro dalla copertina.^[9][10][2]
2. (intransitive or absolute) To exercise judgement; to express an opinion (with di or su): Lascia che sia lui a giudicare.^[9][12][3]
3. To consider, deem: Lo giudico capace di farcela.^[9][10][2]
4. (law) To try, decide by sentence: La corte lo ha giudicato colpevole.^[9][10][2]
5. (obsolete) To award, assign.^[9][12]
6. (giudicarsi) To consider oneself: Si giudica fortunato.^[3]

Word family

• giudicabile
• giudicatore
• giudicatura
• giudicato
• ingiudicato
• aggiudicare
• aggiudicazione
• pregiudicare
• giudicante
• giudicativo
• giudicatorio

Related words

• giudice
• giudizio
• Latin iūdicō
• French juger

Usage notes

The proverb mal si giudica il cavallo dalla sella means that appearances can deceive.^[3] Iudicare is a Latinizing variant, rare today.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
4. ^ 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. 6, 863
5. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1818
6. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli