investigatore

Forms

investigatore m (plural investigatori, feminine investigatrice)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin investīgātor (“one who searches out, investigator”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} GRADIT instead treats it as formed from Italian investigare + -tore in Italian.^[6] The Latin noun is formed from investīgō (“to track down, search out”) with the agent suffix -tor,^[7][1] and the verb is in- with vestīgō (“to follow the trail”).^[1][8] De Vaan leaves open whether vestīgium (“footprint, track”) or the verb came first, and he finds attractive the idea that both go back to a form related to verrō (“to sweep”).^[8] Comparable words are French investigateur (14th century), Spanish investigador and English investigator.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Florentine translation of the second book of Valerius Maximus (before 1326), with the sense “one who searches in order to know something”.^[10] DELI dates it to Boccaccio's Decameron (1348–1353), which speaks of solleciti investigatori del vero “zealous investigators of the truth”.^[11][9][12]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian an investigatore was also an authority charged with conducting inquiries, in particular an ecclesiastical judge, and more broadly a deep thinker.^[10] For centuries the word mostly meant a scholar or student of something, such as an investigatore delle cose antiche in Bisticci or an investigator of nature in Redi.^[9][12] It was used as an adjective too, in ingegno investigatore “a searching mind”.^[12][4]

The modern sense of a police officer or magistrate conducting an inquiry is now central, and investigatore privato, a licensed private detective, is recorded in 1957.^[3][13][11] Wiktionary also lists a slang sense “peeper”.^[1]

Timeline

• Before 1326 – A Florentine translation of Valerius Maximus has the first record.^[10]
• Before 1342 – Zingarelli's date of first record.^[5]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio writes of solleciti investigatori del vero.^[11][9]
• 1957 – Investigatore privato is recorded.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. An investigator, a detective; a police officer or magistrate who conducts an inquiry: investigatore privato “private detective”.^{[6][3][13][1]}
2. A person who researches something: un investigatore dei manoscritti medievali.^[3][5]

Adjective

1. Investigating; inquisitive: sguardo investigatore.^[6][3][14]

Related words

• investigare
• investigazione
• investigativo
• vestigio
• Latin investīgātor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana