giurato

Forms

giurato (feminine giurata, masculine plural giurati, feminine plural giurate)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian giurare (“to swear”), its past participle, used as an adjective and as a noun.^[2][3][4][5] The verb continues Latin iūrō (“to swear”), formed from iūs, whose first sense was the ritual formula pronounced in an oath.^[2][3]

Latin already had the participle iūrātus in an active sense, “one who has sworn”;^[6][7] Treccani and the GDLI take the noun for a sworn member of a court directly from it, and the GDLI calls it semi-learned.^[6][7] Wiktionary too derives the noun from Latin.^[1] DELI explains the noun as short for a phrase with giudice (“judge”), a judge who has sworn to judge according to his conscience;^[2] Tommaseo cites the full phrase from a Dalmatian document of 1428.^[2]

The same Latin participle gave Romanian jurat, Romansh guraus and French juré, which in French also means a juror.^[8] The derived Old French juree passed through English jury into Italian as giuria.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record of the adjective, “bound or confirmed by an oath”, is in Giovanni Villani's chronicle, written before 1348.^[2] The GDLI quotes it: Non guardando a fede promessa e giurata a' Fiorentini (“not heeding the faith promised and sworn to the Florentines”).^[7] Nocentini dates the word to the first half of the 14th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

As a noun, giurato long meant someone who had sworn an oath to the people or the commune;^[2] DELI says this use is widely and anciently attested.^[2] Statutes of the Sienese butchers required the new consuls to have the names of the giurati written down.^[2] The GDLI quotes Bartoli on the twelve giurati of the English courts, so called because they swear to judge by truth and conscience.^[7]

The modern sense, a member of a jury, is first recorded in 1797, in the first Constitution of the Cisalpine Republic.^[2] In the Italian Corte d'Assise the lay judges were called giurati until the name giudice popolare replaced it.^[6][5] By extension the word now names the member of any judging panel, at a contest or a beauty pageant.^[9][10]

The adjective developed the figurative nemico giurato, an implacable enemy,^[11][12] and the phrase guardia giurata, a private security guard who has taken an oath.^[4][6] An old noun sense, “conspirator”, is now obsolete.^[11][10] Tommaseo noted a Latinism, gli Dei giurati, the gods by whom one swears.^[13]

Timeline

• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses giurato “confirmed by an oath”.^[2]
• 1428 – A Dalmatian document has the phrase giudici giurati, “sworn judges”.^[2]
• 1797 – The first Constitution of the Cisalpine Republic uses giurato for a member of a jury.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Affirmed or promised under oath: Il testimone ha firmato una dichiarazione giurata.^[9][4][5][6]
2. Bound by an oath, sworn: un perito giurato, a sworn expert;^[4][6][10] guardia giurata, a private security guard.^[4][6][10]
3. (figurative) Of an enemy: implacable, relentless: nemico giurato.^[11][4][12]

Noun

1. (law) A juror in the Corte d'Assise, now officially called giudice popolare.^[5][6][10]
2. (by extension) A member of any jury or judging panel: I giurati hanno scelto il romanzo più breve.^[9][5][10]
3. (obsolete) A conspirator.^[11][10]

Word family

• giuratamente

Related words

• giurabile
• giurativo
• giurare
• giuria
• giuramento
• Latin iūrātus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f 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 c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
7. ^ 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, p. 6, 898
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d e f g Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
11. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET