incolpare

Forms

incolpare (first-person singular present incólpo, first-person singular past historic incolpài, past participle incolpàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] An old form is Old Italian encolpare.^[2][3]

Etymology

DELI and most dictionaries take it as learned: it is borrowed from Late Latin inculpō (“to blame, accuse”), recorded in Boethius in the 6th century.^{[4][5][6][7][8]} The Latin verb is formed with in- and culpō (“to blame”), a verb from culpa (“fault, guilt”).^[4][7][1] Nocentini instead derives it within Italian from colpa, with a prefix.^[9] The comparable French verbs are Old French encoulper and French inculper (16th century).^[10]

The origin of the Latin noun is not certain.^[11] De Vaan suggests that its first meaning was “a state of error” and connects it with a root Proto-Indo-European *kʷelp- (“to bend, turn”), like Ancient Greek κόλπος (kólpos, “bosom, lap”) and Old Norse hvelfa (“to make vaulted”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Tuscan poem of Pier della Vigna (before 1249), with the sense “to accuse someone, holding them responsible for a harmful or wrongful act”.^[2] DELI dates the verb to an anonymous poet before 1250, who says that he should not be incolpato “blamed”.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian it also meant “to reproach, censure” and, used intransitively, “to be at fault”.^[2][7] Petrarch's line non altrui incolpando, che me stesso “blaming no one but myself” shows the verb with a reflexive object, and the reciprocal incolparsi a vicenda, “to blame each other”, is dated to 1887.^[3][4]

Tommaseo distinguished it from imputare and accusare: one may blame someone even for a slight fault, privately, without bringing a charge.^[8] The Treccani dictionary still notes that the verb lacks the stricter legal sense of accusare and imputare.^[12] With things as object it means to put the blame on circumstances or fate.^[5][6]

Timeline

• Before 1249 – Pier della Vigna uses the verb.^[2]
• Before 1250 – An anonymous poet uses incolpato.^[4]
• Before 1543 – Incolpevole “blameless” is recorded in Firenzuola.^[4]
• 1887 – A dictionary records the reciprocal incolparsi “to blame each other”.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To blame, hold or declare guilty (+ di); to accuse: L'hanno incolpata del furto.^[5][6][7][1]
2. (figurative) To blame things as the cause of something bad: incolpare la sfortuna.^[5][6][13]
3. (reflexive) incolparsi: to blame oneself;^[14][7][13] (reciprocal) to blame one another.^[14][7][13]

Word family

• incolpevole
• incolpabile
• incolpamento
• incolpatore
• incolpazione

Related words

• colpa
• colpevole
• colpire
• Latin culpa

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1990
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse