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Etymology and origin of the Italian word informazione

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1304–1308, Dante
Borrowed from
Latin informatio
Ultimate origin
Latin fōrma
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin informatio
German Information
Italian informazione

Pronunciation

  • /in.for.matˈt͡sjo.ne/[1]

Forms

informazione f (plural informazioni)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin īnfōrmātiō (“formation of an idea, notion”), from īnfōrmō (“to give shape to; to form an idea of”), from in- and fōrma (“shape”).[2][3][4][5][1] Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti treat it as an Italian derivative of informare, already found in Latin, and Treccani as formed on the verb after the Latin model.[6][7][8] In Latin the noun meant a notion or idea and, in late times, instruction or education.[8][1] French information is recorded in the 15th century.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dante's Convivio (1304–1308), in the scholastic sense of giving a being its form: the earth is disposed differently in early spring “a ricevere in sé la informazione de l'erbe e de li fiori” (to receive within itself the forming of grasses and flowers).[9][4][2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “report, news” is recorded about 1430, in Buonaccorso Pitti, and Giovanni Villani already uses the word for what serves to inform someone.[9][10] The old form informagione is also found.[10][4] The philosophical sense of giving form is now obsolete.[2][8][3]

In the 20th century the word acquired technical senses: in computing, a notion that can be expressed as data (1957), in biology informazione genetica, in mathematics teoria dell'informazione.[9][2][11] It also came to name the whole sector of the news media, as in libertà d'informazione.[2][7][8] In law, informazione di garanzia, the notice sent to a person under investigation, is recorded in 1987 and was later replaced by avviso di garanzia.[4][8]

Timeline

  • 1304–1308 – Dante uses informazione in the Convivio.[9][2]
  • c. 1430 – Buonaccorso Pitti uses the word for news or a report.[9]
  • 15th century – French information is recorded.[4]
  • 1957 – The computing sense is recorded.[9]
  • 1987 – Informazione di garanzia appears in the press.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A piece of information, news or data that lets one know something: All'ufficio mi hanno dato un'informazione sbagliata sugli orari.[2][6][11][1]
  2. The act of informing or being informed; the news media as a sector: libertà d'informazione.[2][6][7][8]
  3. (computing) Data processed or stored by a computer; a message sent in a code from a transmitter to a receiver.[2][8][3]
  4. (biology) informazione genetica: the hereditary information carried by the genes.[6][7][11]
  5. (obsolete) The giving of form, formation.[2][8][3]

Word family

  • controinformazione

Usage notes

Ufficio informazioni is an information desk.[11][6] Unlike English information, the word is countable: un'informazione, molte informazioni.[2][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  9. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  11. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli

Related etymologies

  • no · also from Latin
  • cosa · also from Latin
  • a · also from Latin
  • mio · also from Latin
  • uno · also from Latin
  • si · also from Latin
  • sapere · also from Latin
  • fare · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Informazione.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/informazione. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·