200–101 BC

Italian words from Latin words first recorded in the 2nd century BC

29 Italian words inherited from a Latin word whose earliest known written record dates from the 2nd century BC, earliest Latin record first.

minaccia
200 BC

from Latin minacia

It is inherited from Late Latin minācia (“threat”), a singular formed late; classical Latin used only the plural minaciae, found in Plautus. The noun was formed from the adjective mināx…
fra
195 BC–149 BC

from Latin infra

1. The preposition is inherited from Latin īnfrā (“below, beneath”), which lost its first syllable. In Late Latin it was confused with intrā (“within”), and so took the sense “between” that it…
grosso
195 BC–149 BC

from Latin grossus

It is inherited from Latin grossus (“thick, coarse”), a popular word of Latin, first recorded in the 1st century AD. Every Romance language has it, and the DÉRom reconstructs Vulgar Latin…
oltre
195 BC–149 BC

from Latin ultra

It is inherited from Latin ultrā (“beyond, further”). The same word gave French outre, Occitan oltra and Catalan oltra, and Dalmatian ultra. Latin ultrā is the ablative feminine of an adjective…
panico
195 BC–149 BC

from Latin panicum

1. The millet is inherited from Latin pānīcum (“Italian millet”), a derivative of pānus (“ear of millet”), named, Nocentini thinks, for its spindle shape. DELI thinks that noun may be the same as…
testa
195 BC–149 BC

from Latin testa

It is inherited from Latin testa (“earthenware pot; tile; shell”), a word that in Late Latin came to mean the skull and then the head. In much of the Romance area the new word took the place of the…
amante
190 BC–159 BC

from Latin amans

It is inherited from Latin amāns (“loving; a lover”), the present participle of amō (“to love”), and in Italian it serves as the present participle of amare. The LEI counts both the adjective and…
sospettare
190 BC–159 BC

from Latin suspecto

It is inherited from Latin suspectō (“to look up at; to suspect”), an intensive of suspiciō (“to look up at; to look at with distrust”). Nocentini adds that it may also be the intensive of suspicor…
attimo
180 BC–102 BC

from Latin atomus

It is inherited from Latin atomus (“atom; moment”), in its popular development, from Ancient Greek ἄτομος (átomos, “indivisible”), and so a doublet of the learned atomo. The sense “moment” already…
centinaio
180 BC–102 BC

from Latin centenarius

It is inherited from Latin centēnārius (“containing a hundred”), used as a noun in the neuter. In Late Latin the neuter noun meant a weight of a hundred pounds. The adjective comes from centēnus (“a…
governo
180 BC–102 BC

from Latin gubernum

It is inherited from Latin gubernum (“steering oar, rudder”), from gubernō (“to steer; to govern”). The Latin verb was borrowed from Ancient Greek κυβερνάω (kubernáō, “to steer”), a word of obscure…
attento
166 BC–160 BC

from Latin attentus

It is inherited from Latin attentus (“attentive, intent”), the past participle of attendō (“to direct one's mind to”), from ad- and tendō (“to stretch”). DELI classes it, with attenzione, as a…
casa
166 BC–160 BC

from Latin casa

It is inherited from Latin casa (“hut, cottage”). In classical Latin the word for a house was domus, which survives in Italian duomo; the Latin word named the countryman's hut, opposed to the villa…
fermare
166 BC–160 BC

from Latin firmo

It is inherited from Latin firmāre (“to make firm, strengthen, confirm”), from firmus (“firm, stable”). Sabatini–Coletti and Wiktionary treat it as the popular form beside the learned firmare (“to…
prestare
166 BC–160 BC

from Latin praesto

It is inherited from Latin praestāre (“to provide, guarantee; to lend”). DELI lists it among the learned words of the family, together with prestazione and prestito, but Nocentini, DEI and the DÉRom…
pugno
166 BC–160 BC

from Latin pugnus

It is inherited from Latin pugnus (“fist; handful”). The word is panromance: French poing, Occitan ponh, Catalan puny, Spanish puño, Portuguese punho and Romanian pumn. Old Italian also had the…
punto
166 BC–160 BC

from Latin punctum

It is inherited from Latin punctum (“small hole; dot; point; moment”), the neuter of the past participle of pungō (“to prick, sting”) used as a noun. DELI calls it a learned word, while Nocentini…
cerchio
140 BC–86 BC

from Latin circulus

It is inherited from Latin circulus (“circle, ring”), through a spoken form Vulgar Latin *circlus that lost its inner vowel. The learned doublet of the same Latin word is circolo. The noun continues…
mattina
140 BC–86 BC

from Latin matutinus

It is inherited from Latin (hōra) mātūtīna (“the morning hour”), the feminine of the adjective “of the morning” used as a noun, with hōra (“hour”) understood. The masculine mattino continues…
rimanere
140 BC–86 BC

from Latin remaneo

It is inherited from Latin remaneō (“to stay behind, remain”), from re- (“back”) and maneō (“to stay”). DELI calls it a learned word, but the verb continues in most Romance languages: Old French…
termine
140 BC–86 BC

from Latin termen

It is inherited from Latin termen (“boundary stone”), through a Vulgar Latin accusative *termĭnem that took the place of classical terminus (“boundary”). The same word is French terme, Occitan…
carta
131 BC–103 BC

from Latin charta

It is inherited from Latin charta (“sheet of papyrus; writing, letter”), from Ancient Greek χάρτης (khártēs, “leaf of papyrus”), a Greek word of uncertain origin. Latin made it feminine. The word is…
dire
131 BC–103 BC

from Latin dico

It is inherited from Latin dīcō (“to say”), from the infinitive ⟨dīcere⟩ shortened to two syllables; the full form survives in Old Italian dicere. The LEI supposes that a short infinitive circulated…
scuola
131 BC–103 BC

from Latin schola

It is inherited from Latin schŏla (“school”), borrowed from Ancient Greek σχολή (skholḗ, “free time, rest; study; school”). The Greek word first meant “free time, quiet, rest”, then study and…
cervello
119 BC–79 BC

from Latin cerebellum

It is inherited from Latin cerebellum, a diminutive of cerebrum (“brain”). The diminutive was a cooking term, and in popular Latin, as in Petronius, it took the place of the base word. The feminine…
sposo
119 BC–79 BC

from Latin sponsus

It is inherited from Latin spōnsus (“betrothed man”), the noun use of the past participle of spondeō (“to promise solemnly”), with the feminine spōnsa, the source of sposa. The same word is French…
denaro
116 BC–27 BC

from Latin denarius

It is inherited from Latin dēnārius (“a coin worth ten asses”), short for a phrase meaning “coin of ten”, from dēnī (“ten each, ten at a time”), the distributive of decem (“ten”). Wiktionary takes…
mucchio
116 BC–27 BC

from Latin mutulus

It is most probably inherited from Latin mūtŭlus (“projecting stone, modillion”), as DELI, Nocentini and most dictionaries hold, following an explanation of Meyer-Lübke that is still generally…
ubriaco
106 BC–43 BC

from Latin ebriacus

It is inherited from Late Latin ēbriācus (“intoxicated”), a derivative of Latin ēbrius (“drunk”), the source of ebbro. The Latin word is first found in the mime writer Laberius in the 1st century…

All Italian words inherited from Latin, by century →