300–201 BC

Italian words from Latin words first recorded in the 3rd century BC

287 Italian words inherited from a Latin word whose earliest known written record dates from the 3rd century BC, earliest Latin record first.

maestro
299 BC–200 BC

from Latin magister

It is inherited from Latin magister (“chief, master; teacher”), continuing the accusative case. The /g/ between vowels was lost before a front vowel, as in dito, and the shorter mastro is a doublet…
alto
280 BC–200 BC

from Latin altus

It is inherited from Latin altus (“high; deep”). The same word is French haut, Occitan aut, Catalan alt, Spanish alto, Portuguese alto and Sardinian altu, and with a prefix Romanian înalt. The…
cane
280 BC–260 BC

from Latin canis

It is inherited from Latin canis (“dog”), from the accusative ⟨canem⟩. The word is panromance: French chien, Occitan ca, Catalan ca (in Majorca), Old Spanish can, Portuguese cão, Sardinian cane…
fame
280 BC–260 BC

from Latin fames

It is inherited from Latin famēs (“hunger; famine”). In early Latin the noun belonged to the fifth declension and later moved to the third. The same word is French faim, Occitan fam, Catalan fam…
madre
280 BC–200 BC

from Latin mater

It is inherited from Latin māter (“mother”) (accusative ⟨mātrem⟩). The ⟨d⟩ is unexpected, since Tuscan normally keeps Latin ⟨t⟩ between vowels and before ⟨r⟩, and is usually explained by northern…
nostro
280 BC–200 BC

from Latin noster

It is inherited from Latin noster (“our”), from Latin nōs (“we”), with the suffix -ter that marks a contrast between two, as in alter (Italian altro). The word is panromance: French notre, Occitan…
nulla
280 BC–200 BC

from Latin nullus

It is inherited from Latin nūlla, the neuter plural of the Latin adjective for “no, none”; Wiktionary reads the form as both the feminine singular and the collective neuter plural, and Tommaseo…
paura
280 BC–260 BC

from Latin pavor

It is inherited from Latin pavor (“terror, fear”), from the accusative ⟨pavorem⟩, with its ending replaced by the suffix ⟨-ura⟩. Devoto, Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti start from a reconstructed…
petto
280 BC–200 BC

from Latin pectus

It is inherited from Latin pectus (“breast, chest”). The word is panromance: Old French piz, Old Occitan peitz, Catalan pit, Spanish pecho, Portuguese peito, Sardinian pettus and Romanian piept. The…
sopra
280 BC–260 BC

from Latin supra

It is inherited from Latin suprā (“above, over”). The Latin word, older suprād, was the ablative feminine of superus (“upper”) with the inner vowel lost, and that adjective was formed from super…
tuo
280 BC–200 BC

from Latin tuus

It is inherited from Latin tuus (“your”), from Latin tū (“you”). DELI calls the line of descent unclear: a Latin ⟨tŭ-⟩ would give Italian ⟨tuo-⟩, as the plural ⟨tuoi⟩ shows, so a spoken variant…
ve
280 BC–200 BC

from Latin ibi

It is the form vi takes before the unstressed pronouns ⟨lo⟩, ⟨la⟩, ⟨li⟩, ⟨le⟩ and the particle ⟨ne⟩, both as the pronoun “you, to you” and as the adverb “there”. Nocentini explains the ⟨e⟩ as…
vi
280 BC–200 BC

from Latin ibi

It is inherited from Latin ibī (“there”), which also gave ivi. The pronoun “you, to you” is the same word: Rohlfs, quoted by DELI, explains that ⟨vi scrivo⟩ originally meant “I write there”, to the…
aggiungere
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin adiungo

It is inherited from Latin adiungere (“to join to, add”), from iungō (“to join, yoke”) with the prefix ad-. The verb survives across the Romance languages: Old French ajoindre, Occitan ajonher…
alice
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin allec

It is inherited from Latin (h)allēc (“fish sauce”), through the accusative ⟨allēcem⟩. The Latin word named a fermented sauce made from small fish; the shift from the sauce to the fish is explained…
amo
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin hamus

It is inherited from Latin hāmus (“hook, fish-hook”). The old plural àmora leads DEI to suppose a neuter plural Vulgar Latin *hamora, as in the Calabrian dialects. The same word is Old French ain…
anello
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin anellus

It is inherited from Latin ānellus (“little ring”), a diminutive of ānulus (“ring”), itself a diminutive of ānus (“ring, circle”). The later diminutive took over the main sense of the older word, a…
aperto
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin apertus

It is inherited from Latin apertus (“open; uncovered”), the past participle of aperiō (“to open”). The Latin verb survives in Spanish abrir, Portuguese abrir and Friulian avrî, while French ouvrir…
armato
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin armatus

It is inherited from Latin armātus (“armed”), the past participle of armō (“to arm”), from arma (“weapons”). The modern dictionaries treat it as the past participle of Italian armare, and DELI lists…
caro
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin carus

It is inherited from Latin cārus (“dear, beloved; precious; costly”). The Latin adjective already had both its senses, and Plautus played on the double meaning. The word continues in all the Romance…
colpa
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin culpa

It is inherited from Latin culpa (“fault, guilt”). Nocentini sets it beside Old French coupe and Old Occitan colpa, and notes that Catalan culpa, Spanish culpa and Portuguese culpa were taken from…
corda
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin chorda

It is inherited from Latin chorda (“gut; string of an instrument; rope”), also written corda, a Latin borrowing of Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ, “guts; string of gut”). The Latin word first meant the…
corte
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin cohors

It is inherited from Latin cohors (“enclosure, farmyard; troop”), in the contracted form cors that Latin already had. The Medieval Latin curtis is a false Latinisation of the Romance word. Italian…
cura
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin cura

It is inherited from Latin cūra (“care, concern; treatment; administration”). DELI classes the word as learned, together with curare and curatore, while DEI and Meyer-Lübke count it among the words…
dato
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin datus

The adjective is inherited from Latin datus (“given”), the past participle of dare, the participle of dō (“to give”). The noun, “a datum”, is a learned word from the Latin participle used as a noun…
dolore
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin dolor

It is inherited from Latin dolor (“pain, grief”) (accusative “dolōrem”), from doleō (“to hurt, feel pain”) and the suffix -or. DELI classes it as a learned word, while Nocentini and DEI treat it as…
ecco
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin eccum

It is inherited from Latin eccum (“here he is!”), the colloquial form beside ecce (“behold”). The OLD analyses it as the particle and probably a pronoun ⟨*hum⟩ for ⟨hunc⟩, Wiktionary as the particle…
erba
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin herba

It is inherited from Latin herba (“grass, herb, small plant”). The word is panromance: the same Latin noun gave French herbe, Occitan erba, Catalan erba, Spanish hierba, Portuguese erva, Sardinian…
estate
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin aestas

It continues inherited from Latin aestās (“summer”), from the accusative aestātem. The older Italian forms ⟨state⟩ and ⟨istate⟩ came down by unbroken popular tradition, while ⟨estate⟩ is a learned…
fine
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin finis

1. The noun is inherited from Latin fīnis (“boundary, limit; end”). The same word is French fin, Occitan fi, Catalan fi, Spanish fin and Portuguese fim. Its derivatives came into Italian as learned…
fino
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin finis

1. The preposition is inherited from Latin fīne (“at the limit”), the ablative of the noun “limit, end”, used in prepositional phrases such as ⟨fine a(d)⟩ and ⟨in fine a(d)⟩. Latin itself used fīne…
fregare
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin frico

It is inherited from Latin fricāre (“to rub, chafe”). The voicing of the ⟨c⟩ between vowels to ⟨g⟩ is a northern development, so the Tuscan word probably came from the north; Wiktionary gives an…
fumare
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin fumo

It is inherited from Latin fūmō (“to smoke, give off smoke”), a verb formed from fūmus (“smoke”), the source of fumo. The verb lived on across the Romance languages: French fumer, Occitan fumar…
lana
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin lana

It is inherited from Latin lāna (“wool”). The word is common to the Romance languages: French laine, Occitan lana, Catalan llana, Spanish lana, Portuguese lã and Romanian lână. The Latin noun goes…
legge
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin lex

It is inherited from Latin lēx (“law”), from the accusative ⟨lēgem⟩, with the doubled ⟨gg⟩ that is regular in Tuscan before a front vowel. The word is common to the Romance languages: French loi…
là
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin illac

It is inherited from Latin illāc (“that way; there”). The Latin adverb was the ablative feminine of ille (“that”), the source of il, with the deictic particle -ce added. It came from phrases such as…
lì
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin illic

It is inherited from Latin illīc (“there, in that place”), an old locative of the demonstrative ille (“that”), strengthened with the deictic particle -ce. The Latin adverb is illī with that particle…
ne
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin inde

It is inherited from Latin inde (“from there, thence”), reduced to its middle consonant and final vowel. Sabatini derives it by loss of the first syllable from a Vulgar Latin *inne, and Wikizionario…
neve
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin nix

It is inherited from Latin nix (“snow”), from the accusative nivem. The same word is Old French noif (modern French neige, from the verb neiger), Occitan neu, Catalan neu, Spanish nieve, Portuguese…
nudo
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin nudus

It is inherited from Latin nūdus (“naked; bare”). The same word is French nu, Occitan nut, Catalan nu, Spanish nudo and Portuguese nu, as well as Romansh nüd, Friulian nut and Dalmatian noid. GDLI…
oh
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin oh

It is inherited from Latin ōh, also written ō, an onomatopoeic exclamation of surprise and strong feeling. Nocentini and Sabatini–Coletti treat it as a word inherited from Latin, common to the other…
otto
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin octo

It is inherited from Latin octō (“eight”). The numeral is panromance: French huit, Occitan uech, Catalan vuit, Spanish ocho, Portuguese oito, Friulian vot, Sardinian otto and Romanian opt. The Latin…
peccato
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin peccatum

It is inherited from Latin peccātum (“error, fault; sin”), the past participle of peccō (“to make a mistake, do wrong”) used as a noun. Zingarelli calls it a learned word, but the DÉRom reconstructs…
pietra
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin petra

It is inherited from Latin pĕtra (“rock, stone”), itself borrowed from Ancient Greek πέτρα (pétra, “rock, stone”). The Greek word is of uncertain origin; DEI calls it an Aegean relic word. In Latin…
pranzo
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin prandium

It is inherited from Latin prandium (“late-morning or midday meal”), derived from prandeō (“to have one's morning or midday meal”). Its original sense must have been “first meal”. Sardinian pranzu…
pure
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin pure

It is inherited from Latin pūrē (“purely, simply; fully”), the adverb of pūrus (“clean, pure”). Nocentini explains the ending as the old instrumental case of the adjective. The adverb survives also…
sempre
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin semper

It is inherited from Latin semper (“always”). The word is Old French sempre, Occitan sempre, Catalan sempre, Spanish siempre and Portuguese sempre, but it did not survive in Romanian, and in French…
sognare
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin somnio

It is inherited from Latin somniō (“to dream”), formed from somnium (“dream”), itself from somnus (“sleep”). The Italian verb is therefore a sister of the noun sogno rather than a derivative of it…
sogno
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin somnium

It is inherited from Latin somnium (“dream”), derived from somnus (“sleep”), which also gave sonno. The verb sognare is from the Latin derivative somniō (“to dream”). The same Latin word is French…
sotto
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin subtus

It is inherited from Latin subtus (“below, underneath”), an adverb formed from sub (“under”), properly “from below”. Nocentini sees in the ending a suffix of motion from a place, and the OLD…
sporco
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin spurcus

It is inherited from Latin spŭrcus (“impure, filthy”). The open /ɔ/, where Latin short /u/ should give a close /o/, is due to the influence of porco (“pig”). DELI quotes Rohlfs on this, and Treccani…
sì
250 BC–184 BC

from Latin sic

It is inherited from Latin sīc (“so, thus”). As a word of assent it is short for the phrase ⟨sīc est⟩ “it is so”, used like ⟨ita est⟩. The adverb “so” is panromance: French si, Occitan si, Catalan…
accendere
240 BC–207 BC

from Latin accendo

It is inherited from Latin accendō (“to set on fire, to kindle”), from ad- and the stem of candeō (“to shine, to glow”). The Latin verb survives in Old Occitan acendre, Old Spanish acender and…
bere
240 BC–207 BC

from Latin bibo

It is a shortened form of the older bevere, which is inherited from Latin bibō (“to drink”). Sabatini–Coletti describes the change as the loss of the syllable after the stress. Pietro Bembo already…
campo
240 BC–207 BC

from Latin campus

It is inherited from Latin campus (“plain, open country; field”). The word is found in all the Romance languages: French champ, Occitan camp, Catalan camp, Spanish campo, Portuguese campo, Sardinian…
chiedere
240 BC–207 BC

from Latin quaero

It is inherited from Latin quaerō (“to seek; to ask”), with dissimilation of the first /r/ to /d/ before the second. DELI compares armadio and rado, where the second /r/ changed instead; the old…
credere
240 BC–207 BC

from Latin credo

It is inherited from Latin crēdō (“to trust, believe; to entrust”). The word is panromance: French croire, Occitan creire, Catalan creure, Spanish creer, Portuguese crer, Sardinian crere and…
fiore
240 BC–207 BC

from Latin flos

It is inherited from Latin flōs (“flower”), from its accusative form. The word is panromance: French fleur, Occitan flor, Catalan flor, Spanish flor, Portuguese flor, Sardinian flore, Friulian flor…
luogo
240 BC–207 BC

from Latin locus

It is inherited from Latin locus (“place”), from its accusative. The older form Old Italian loco keeps the Latin sounds, while the modern form shows the Tuscan diphthong of a stressed open /ɔ/ in an…
mare
240 BC–207 BC

from Latin mare

It is inherited from Latin mare (“sea”), from Proto-Italic *mari, from Proto-Indo-European *móri (“sea, lake”). The word is panromance: French mer, Occitan mar, Catalan mar, Spanish mar, Portuguese…

All Italian words inherited from Latin, by century →