100–1 BC

Italian words from Latin words first recorded in the 1st century BC

40 Italian words inherited from a Latin word whose earliest known written record dates from the 1st century BC, earliest Latin record first.

coltello
100 BC

from Latin cultellus

It is inherited from Latin cultellus (“small knife”), the diminutive of culter (“knife”). When “culter” came to mean the blade of the plough and the plough itself (the source of coltro), the…
orso
99 BC–74 BC

from Latin ursus

It is inherited from Latin ursus (“bear”). The word is panromance: French ours, Occitan ors, Catalan os, Spanish oso, Portuguese urso, Sardinian ursu and Romanian urs, with feminines beside them as…
rifiutare
96 BC–55 BC

from Latin refuto

It is the popular outcome, inherited from Latin refūtō (“to check, repel; to refute”), whose ⟨i⟩ is usually put down to the influence of fiutare (“to sniff”). DELI calls that influence hard to…
terreno
96 BC–55 BC

from Latin terrenus

1. The adjective is inherited from Latin terrēnus (“of earth, earthly, terrestrial”), a derivative of terra (“earth, land”). Nocentini notes that the Latin adjective is well represented in the…
castello
90 BC–67 BC

from Latin castellum

It is inherited from Latin castellum (“fortified settlement, fort”), a diminutive of castrum (“fortified place”). The learned word castro continues the base noun. The Latin word lives on in all the…
strano
90 BC–80 BC

from Latin extraneus

It is inherited from Old Italian stranio, inherited from Latin extrāneus (“external, foreign; strange”), the popular outcome of the Latin word, whose learned doublet is estraneo. Nocentini, DEI and…
baciare
81 BC–50 BC

from Latin basio

It is inherited from Latin bāsiāre (“to kiss”), derived from bāsium (“kiss”). Catullus brought the verb into Latin literature for an amorous kiss, and Martial uses it for a kiss of respect; it…
bacio
81 BC–50 BC

from Latin basium

1. The kiss is inherited from Latin bāsium (“kiss”). The Latin word first appears, with the verb basiāre, in Catullus, who was from Verona, and that is why it is often thought to be a Celtic loan…
dichiarare
81 BC–43 BC

from Latin declaro

It continues inherited from Latin dēclārō (“to make clear; to announce officially”), a compound of dē- and clārō (“to make bright, illuminate”), itself from clārus (“clear, bright”). Nocentini adds…
giro
81 BC–43 BC

from Latin gyrus

It is inherited from Latin gȳrus (“circle, ring”), from the accusative ⟨gyrum⟩, borrowed from Ancient Greek γῦρος (gûros, “circle”). Devoto traces the Latin word to the language of horsemanship…
metà
81 BC–43 BC

from Latin medietas

It is inherited from Latin medietās (“the middle; half”), from the accusative medietātem, with the middle syllable dropped and the ending ⟨-tem⟩ lost. The Latin noun was formed on medius (“middle”)…
pagare
81 BC–43 BC

from Latin paco

It is inherited from Latin pācō (“to pacify, quieten”), from pāx (“peace”). In late and spoken Latin the verb came to mean quieting a creditor with money, and so “to pay”: Medieval Latin pagāre is…
riconoscere
81 BC–43 BC

from Latin recognosco

It is inherited from Latin recognōscō (“to recognize; to review”), formed with the intensive prefix re- from cognōscō (“to get to know”), the source of conoscere. Devoto notes that the verb was…
rosa
81 BC–43 BC

from Latin rosa

It is inherited from Latin rosa, which meant both the flower and the rosebush. The same word is French rose, Occitan rosa, Catalan rosa, Spanish rosa and Portuguese rosa. Meyer-Lübke and Körting…
senza
81 BC–43 BC

from Latin absentia

It is inherited from Latin absentia (“absence”), used in the ablative ⟨absentiā⟩ “in the absence of” as a preposition, with the loss of the first syllable. The same reduced form survives in…
sicuro
81 BC–43 BC

from Latin securus

It is inherited from Latin sēcūrus (“free from care, untroubled”), through a Vulgar Latin form with the usual change of the unstressed ⟨e⟩ before the stress to ⟨i⟩. The Latin adjective is formed…
signore
81 BC–43 BC

from Latin senior

It is inherited from Latin senior (“older”), in the accusative seniōrem, the comparative of senex (“old”). In classical Latin ⟨senior⟩ was a man between 45 and 60. It became a title in late Latin…
sollevare
81 BC–43 BC

from Latin sublevo

It is inherited from Latin sublevō (“to lift up; to relieve”), made of sub- (“under, from below”) and levō (“to lift”). Meyer-Lübke records the verb only in Italian and in Menorcan sobllevar “to…
tornare
81 BC–43 BC

from Latin torno

It is inherited from Latin tornō (“to turn on a lathe”), from tornus (“lathe”). The Latin noun was borrowed from Ancient Greek τόρνος (tórnos, “compass; lathe”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁-…
camera
80 BC–27 BC

from Latin camera

1. The word for a room is inherited from Latin camera (“vault, vaulted ceiling”), from Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamára, “vault; vaulted room”). DELI calls the origin of the Greek word unclear, and…
cielo
80 BC–27 BC

from Latin caelum

It is inherited from Latin caelum (“sky, heaven”), whose stressed /ae/ became an open /ɛ/ and then, in an open syllable, the Tuscan diphthong /jɛ/. The same word is found in every Romance language…
finire
80 BC–27 BC

from Latin finio

It is inherited from Latin fīniō (“to bound, limit; to finish”), from fīnis (“boundary, limit, end”). GDLI calls it a learned word. It is found in French, Occitan, Catalan, Spanish and Portuguese…
forse
65 BC–8 BC

from Latin forsit

It is inherited from Latin forsit (“perhaps”), a fusion of fors (“chance, luck”) and sit (“may it be”), literally “be it chance”. Devoto describes how an independent clause became an adverbial…
merda
65 BC–8 BC

from Latin merda

It is inherited from Latin merda (“dung, excrement”). DELI and GDLI call it a learned word, but it is found throughout the Romance languages: French merde, Occitan merda, Catalan merda, Spanish…
sabato
65 BC–8 BC

from Latin sabbatum

It is inherited from Latin sabbatum, from Ancient Greek σάββατον (sábbaton), from Biblical Hebrew שַׁבָּת (šabbāṯ, “cessation (from work), rest”). Nocentini and GRADIT add that the Greek singular…
cavare
60 BC–55 BC

from Latin cavo

It is inherited from Latin cavō (“to hollow out, to dig”), from cavus (“hollow”). The Latin verb lives on in Romance except Romanian and Sardinian: Romansh chavar, Old French chever, Old Occitan…
contento
60 BC–55 BC

from Latin contentus

It is inherited from Latin contentus (“contained; content, satisfied”), the past participle of contineō (“to hold together, contain, keep within bounds”), which also gave contenere. DELI explains…
lasciare
60 BC–55 BC

from Latin laxo

It is inherited from Latin laxāre (“to widen, loosen, release”), from laxus (“loose, wide”). In Latin the verb took the place of linquō (“to leave”), first as a synonym of permittō (“to allow”) and…
piangere
60 BC–55 BC

from Latin plango

It is inherited from Latin plangere (“to strike, beat; to beat one's breast, mourn”). The sense moved from striking to weeping through the gesture of beating one's breast in grief; Migliorini notes…
rilasciare
60 BC–55 BC

from Latin relaxo

It is inherited from Latin relaxō (“to loosen, release; to relieve”), reshaped after lasciare (“to leave, let go”). The Latin verb is formed from laxō (“to loosen, slacken”) with the prefix re-…
salto
60 BC–55 BC

from Latin saltus

It is inherited from Latin saltus (“a jump, leap”), through its accusative. The Latin noun was formed from saliō (“to jump”) with the suffix of action nouns -tus. DELI treats it together with the…
stagione
60 BC–55 BC

from Latin statio

It is inherited from Latin statiō (“a standing still; place, abode”). The Latin noun is formed from stō (“to stand”). Nocentini explains the sense “season” from astronomy: it referred to the…
sopportare
58 BC–44 BC

from Latin supporto

It is inherited from Latin supportāre (“to carry, convey”), which in Late Latin, among Christian writers, came to mean “to bear, endure”. The Latin verb is formed with sub- (“under”) on portō (“to…
legame
57 BC–12 BC

from Latin ligamen

It is inherited from Latin ligāmen (“band, tie; bandage”). The Latin noun is formed from ligō (“to tie, bind”) with the suffix -men. The GDLI calls the Italian word an adaptation of the Latin one…
pensare
44 BC–35 BC

from Latin penso

It is inherited from Latin pēnsō (“to weigh carefully; to consider”), an intensive verb formed on pēnsum, the past participle of pendō (“to hang; to weigh”). The meaning “think” grew out of “weigh”…
posta
44 BC–35 BC

from Latin positus

It is inherited from Latin pŏsita (“placed, set”), a form of the past participle of pōnō (“to put, to place”). The sources read the form in two ways: DELI, GRADIT and Sabatini–Coletti take it as a…
posto
44 BC–35 BC

from Latin positus

It is inherited from Latin positus (“placed, put”), the past participle of pōnō (“to place, put”), through the shortened form postus with the loss of the vowel after the stress. The adjective…
tratto
44 BC–35 BC

from Latin tractus

It continues inherited from Latin tractus (“a pulling; a stretch, extent; a course”), an action noun from trahō (“to pull, drag”). The same Latin word gave French trait, Occitan trach and Spanish…
stretto
16 BC–17

from Latin strictus

It is inherited from Latin strictus (“tight, dense; strict”), the past participle of stringō (“to bind fast, tighten”). Nocentini explains Tuscan strinto, Sardinian istrintu and Romanian strâmt from…
mattino
4 BC–65

from Latin matutinum

It is inherited from Latin mātūtīnum (“early morning”), short for mātūtīnum tempus (“morning time”), the neuter of the adjective mātūtīnus (“of the morning”). The adjective is formed from Mātūta…

All Italian words inherited from Latin, by century →