grazia

Forms

grazia f (plural grazie)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word: it is borrowed from Latin grātia (“favour; gratitude; charm”), formed on grātus (“pleasing; grateful”) (see grato).^[2][3][4][1] Latin used it in abstract senses (“gratitude”) and concrete ones (“an act that earns gratitude”, “a service”), then for “favour, credit, influence” and “charm, beauty”.^[2] The Latin of the Church gave the word new strength: it rendered Greek χάρισμα (khárisma) for God's gift, while the profane sense “charm” translated Ancient Greek χάρις (kháris).^[2][5][6] Nocentini stresses that the word came down chiefly through the Christian tradition, in the sense of divine favour.^[3]

The legal sense, the remission of a penalty, is already hinted at in Cicero and stated in Sallust.^[5] The same Latin word is French grâce, Old Occitan gracia and Spanish gracia, all learned too.^[3][7] DEI and Meyer-Lübke point to a popular survival in Campidanese arattsa, a gift of grain to the bridegroom.^[5][8]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *gʷrāto- (“grateful”) and PIE *gʷrH-to- (“praised”), a participle of the root seen in Sanskrit गूर्ति (gūrtí, “praise, welcome”).^[9][1] Oscan brateis (“of grace”) is its Italic cognate.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is gracia in G. Fava, between 1239 and 1250, in the sense of the pleasure that a person or thing gives by its naturalness and harmony.^[2] GRADIT dates the word to before 1250, and Sabatini–Coletti finds a form grasia in the 12th century.^[4][10]

Semantic evolution

The 13th century already had most of today's senses: courtesy towards others (Brunetto Latini), friendship and favour (grasia in Guittone), God's supernatural help to the soul and the remission of a penalty (both in Bono Giamboni, before 1292), and gratitude.^[2] Dante adds redemption from original sin, and Simintendi in 1333 the three Graces of mythology.^[2]

In Christian Latin, the loss of grace was the state of sin and misery, and Italian disgrazia first meant the loss of God's favour.^[3] The thanks grazie is the plural, short for rendere grazie, from the Latin grātiās agere of the Eucharist.^[3] DELI records it as an interjection in Foscolo (1801), Nocentini a century earlier (1701); it was a usual closing formula in Venetian letters by 1495.^[2][3] Grazie a, “thanks to”, appears in 1863.^[2]

The title Vostra Grazia for English rulers is recorded in 1869, and in printing grazie are serifs (1964).^[2] The exclamation troppa grazia, sant'Antonio! comes, DELI says, from a tale of an old man who prayed to Saint Anthony to help him mount his horse and leapt clean over it.^[2]

Timeline

• 1239–1250 – G. Fava writes gracia.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for divine grace and for a pardon.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo has grasia, “favour”.^[2]
• 1333 – Arrigo Simintendi names the three Graces.^[2]
• 1495 – Grazie closes Venetian letters.^[2]
• 1801 – Foscolo uses grazie as an interjection.^[2]
• 1869 – Grazia is recorded as the title of English rulers.^[2]
• 1964 – Grazie is recorded for serifs.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. grace, charm: the beauty, delicacy and harmony that make a person, a movement or a work attractive: Ballava con una grazia naturale.^{[4][11][10][1]}
2. Courtesy, good manners towards others: Rispose con molta grazia.^[4][11][12]
3. (in the plural) Physical charms, especially a woman's;^[4][11][13] concedere le proprie grazie, to give oneself to a lover.^[4][11][13]
4. (usually in the plural) favour, goodwill: essere nelle grazie di qualcuno, to be in someone's good books.^[4][11][10]
5. A special favour or boon granted, especially by God or a saint: chiedere una grazia.^[4][10][14]
6. (law) A pardon: the head of state's act that cancels, reduces or commutes a sentence.^{[4][10][14][1]}
7. (theology) The supernatural help God gives freely to people for their salvation: la grazia di Dio.^[4][11][12]
8. (mythology) Each of the three Graces, the goddesses of charm and beauty.^[13][2]
9. (typography, usually in the plural) A serif.^[2][1]

Word family

• grazie
• graziare
• graziato
• aggraziato
• disgrazia
• disgraziato
• ingraziarsi
• ringraziare
• ringraziamento
• sgraziato

Related words

• grato
• grazioso
• Latin gratia
• French grâce

Usage notes

Common phrases are di grazia (please), in grazia di (thanks to), colpo di grazia (coup de grâce) and anno di grazia (a year of the Christian era).^[13][14][12] Grazia is also a woman's name.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 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 d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1866
6. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli