300s

Italian words from Latin words first recorded in the 4th century

18 Italian words inherited from a Latin word whose earliest known written record dates from the 4th century, earliest Latin record first.

strada
325

from Latin strata

It is inherited from Late Latin strāta (“paved road”), short for Latin via strāta (“paved way”), in which strātus (“spread, paved”) is the past participle of sternō (“to spread out, pave”). The /d/…
conto
334–337

from Latin computus

It is inherited from Late Latin computus (“calculation, reckoning”), through a spoken Latin form *contus. DEI and GDLI instead treat it as a noun formed in Italian from the verb contare, and DELI…
copertura
345–412

from Latin coopertura

It continues inherited from Late Latin coopertūra (“covering”), a derivative of coopertus (“covered”), the past participle of cooperiō (“to cover completely”). DEI finds the Late Latin word in…
zia
345–412

from Latin thia

It is inherited from Late Latin thia (“aunt”), borrowed from Ancient Greek θεία (theía, “aunt”), the feminine of θεῖος (theîos, “uncle”). It is the feminine of zio. The classical word for a father's…
gamba
360

from Latin gamba

It is inherited from Late Latin gamba (“hock, leg of a horse”), a word of the 4th-century veterinary writers Chiron, Pelagonius and Vegetius, where manuscripts often spell it ⟨camba⟩. It was…
nonno
370–420

from Latin nonnus

It is inherited from Late Latin nonnus (“monk; male nurse, tutor”), the masculine of nonna (“nurse”). It is a word of children's speech. In the language of the Church it became a title of respect…
messa
375–397

from Latin missa

1. The Mass is inherited from Late Latin missa, recorded in 385 in a letter of Saint Ambrose: “missam facere coepi” (“I began to celebrate Mass”). The same word is French messe and Occitan mesa…
gatto
380–420

from Latin cattus

It is inherited from Late Latin cattus, with its feminine catta and the manuscript variants gattus and gatta. The Late Latin word, first in Palladius in the 4th century, replaced classical Latin…
camicia
383–420

from Latin camisia

It is inherited from Late Latin camisia, a Late Latin word of uncertain origin. Jerome (died 420) is the first to use it, and he presents it as a foreign word for a linen garment worn by soldiers…
colpo
383–420

from Latin colpus

It is inherited from Late Latin colpus (“blow”), the form found in the Salic Law (6th century), a contraction of Latin colaphus (“punch, slap”), which is borrowed from Ancient Greek κόλαφος…
nonna
383–420

from Latin nonna

It is inherited from Late Latin nonna (“nurse, wet nurse”), a word of children's speech found in late inscriptions, which in Church Latin, from Jerome on, also meant “nun”. The masculine nonnus…
don
387

from Latin domnus

It is inherited from Old Italian donno (“lord, master”), shortened in front of a proper name. The Old Italian word is inherited from Late Latin domnus, the syncopated form of Latin dominus (“master…
calma
390–406

from Latin cauma

It is inherited from Late Latin cauma (“great heat”), from Ancient Greek καῦμα (kaûma, “burning heat, heat of the sun”), a derivative of καίω (kaíō, “to burn”). The Late Latin word is used by…
scopare
390–406

from Latin scopo

It is inherited from Late Latin scōpō (“to sweep”), formed from scōpae (“twigs; broom”). The verb survives across the Romance languages: Sardinian iscobare, Old French escover, Spanish escobar and…
torta
390–406

from Latin torta

It is inherited from Late Latin tōrta (“round flat loaf”), the word the Vulgate (before 420) uses to translate Ancient Greek ἄρτος (ártos, “bread”), in the sense of a flat round loaf, which the…
insegnare
400

from Latin insigno

It is inherited from Late Latin īnsignō (“to imprint signs”), a verb of the Latin glosses, formed with an intensive in- from signō (“to mark; to show, explain”), in the sense “to show, explain” that…
tomba
400

from Latin tumba

It is inherited from Late Latin tumba, a late word (4th century, Prudentius) that Christian writers took from Ancient Greek τύμβος (túmbos, “burial mound”). The Greek word is old, used since Homer…
uccello
400

from Latin aucellus

It is inherited from Late Latin aucellus (“little bird”), a word of the glossaries, formed as a masculine beside the older aucella, which Varro already has; the feminine is a contraction of…

All Italian words inherited from Latin, by century →