giustizia

Forms

giustizia f (plural giustizie)^[1] Old Italian also had iustizia, Old Italian justizia and Old Italian giustisia.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin iūstitia (“justice”), from iūstus (“just”) with the suffix -itia;^{[4][5][6][1][7]} “iustus” means “according to law”, from iūs (“law, right”).^{[4][5][6][1][7]} The GDLI calls it semi-learned.^[8] Its doublet is giustezza, and the Latin word was taken in the same way into French justice, Spanish justicia and Portuguese justiça.^[1][6][5]

De Vaan explains Latin “iūs” “law” as an old neuter s-stem, with “iūstus” formed from it, and traces it to a Proto-Indo-European word for “vital force, eternity”, Proto-Indo-European *h₂óyu, which also gave Sanskrit आयुस् (ā́yus, “life, lifespan”).^[9]

DELI notes that, unlike the noun, its derivatives were formed in Romance: giustiziare translates Old French justicier (12th century) and took both its 13th-century senses, “judge” and “executioner”, from it.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the word to about 1274;^[10][4] DELI's first record is Brunetto Latini (before 1294), for the virtue that judges rightly and gives each person what is due, one of the four cardinal virtues.^[10][4] Guittone d'Arezzo (before 1294) has giustisia for the right ordering of social relations under the law.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Dante (1313–1319) uses giustizia for the social order and for the act by which justice is done, and has the line Giustizia mosse il mio alto fattore “Justice moved my high Maker”.^[4][11] In Giovanni Villani's chronicle (before 1348) the word means the judicial authority and also the penalty and its execution.^[4] From this last sense come giustiziare “to execute” (before 1292, Bono Giamboni), giustiziere “executioner” (before 1292) and giustiziato (before 1311, Giordano da Pisa); Cielo d'Alcamo (before 1250) already has justizieri in the sense “judges”, and Medieval Latin iustitiarius is recorded at Bari in 1155.^[4]

Modern Italian uses the word for the moral value, for the courts (Ministero della Giustizia) and for the police and judiciary as a whole, as in assicurare qualcuno alla giustizia “to bring someone to justice”;^[10][12][5] giustizia sociale is social justice, and giustizialismo (1952) is borrowed from Spanish justicialismo.^[10][12][5]

Timeline

• Before 1250 – Cielo d'Alcamo uses justizieri for judges.^[4]
• About 1274 – Giustizia is first recorded.^[10]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni has giustiziare and giustiziere.^[4]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for the cardinal virtue.^[4]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses it for the act by which justice is done.^[4]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it for the judicial authority and for punishment.^[4]
• 1952 – Giustizialismo is borrowed from Spanish.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. justice, the principle of recognizing and respecting each person's rights and judging merits and faults fairly: Si è sempre battuto per la giustizia., giustizia sociale, social justice.^[10][12][13]
2. (theology) One of the four cardinal virtues.^[12][13][2]
3. The fairness of an act or decision: Nessuno dubitava della giustizia di quella sentenza.^[10][12]
4. The power to apply the law and its exercise: amministrare la giustizia, giustizia civile, penale.^[10][13]
5. The judicial authority and those who carry out its decisions: È ricercato dalla giustizia di due paesi., Ministero della Giustizia.^[10][13][11]
6. The concrete doing of justice: chiedere giustizia, farsi giustizia da sé, to take the law into one's own hands.^[10][14]
7. (dated) A sentence of punishment, and its execution.^[10][4]

Word family

• giustiziare
• giustiziere
• giustiziato
• giustizialismo
• giustiziale
• ingiustizia

Related words

• giusto
• giustezza
• Latin iustitia
• French justice

Usage notes

Collaboratore di giustizia is the official term for an informer who turns state's evidence, popularly a pentito.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
3. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1825
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli