leale

Forms

leale m or f by sense (plural leali)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian liale, Old Italian leial, Old Italian leiale and Old Italian lial.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Occitan leial (Old French has the same form, leial), the popular Gallo-Romance outcome of Latin lēgālis (“according to the law”).^[5][6][7][1] DELI and Nocentini prefer Old Occitan.^[5][6] GRADIT names both languages, and DEI, Devoto, Devoto–Oli and Treccani name Old French.^{[7][8][9][10][11]} The TLIO does not rule out a direct derivation from Latin.^[2]

The Latin adjective is formed from lex (“law”) with -alis.^[12][1] The same word gave French loyal, Spanish leal and Portuguese leal, while the learned legale keeps the Latin form.^[6][5][1] The English word leal is an older borrowing of the French one.^[8][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the Breve di Montieri of 1219, in the sense of keeping one's word, promises and agreements.^[5][7] Old texts, from the 13th century to Dante and later, still used the older sense “in keeping with the law” or “genuine”.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The TLIO's oldest senses are “conforming to the laws” and “unadulterated, genuine”, beside the moral sense of acting honestly and in good faith, which it records also of a fair judge, of a loyal member of a faction, and of a faithful lover in courtly poetry.^[2] Giamboni advises telling one's secret to a leale compagno and one's illness to a leale medico.^[14]

The old sense “just, lawful” lived on in moneta leale (sound coin) and misura leale (honest measure), now archaic.^[11][10] DELI records the sense “legal” again in 1764, in Genovesi.^[5] The derivative lealtà is an Italian formation of the 13th century, while lealismo (1830, in a translation of Scott) is from French loyalisme.^[5][6]

Timeline

• 1219 – The Breve di Montieri uses leale “faithful to one's word”.^[5]
• Before 1294 – Latini and Guittone use lealtà.^[5]
• 1764 – Genovesi uses leale for “legal”.^[5]
• 1830 – Lealismo appears in a translation from English.^[5]
• 1926 – Lealista is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. loyal, honest: acting with sincerity and fairness, without deceit or betrayal: È sempre stata leale con i colleghi.^{[7][10][15][1]}
2. faithful, devoted.^[7][4]
3. Showing fairness and sincerity; conducted by the rules, without tricks: una gara leale.^[7][10][15]
4. (archaic) Lawful, just; of a measure, exact; of a coin, not counterfeit.^[7][10][11]

Word family

• lealtà
• lealmente
• sleale
• slealtà
• disleale

Related words

• legale
• legge
• legittimo
• lealismo
• Latin legalis
• French loyal

Usage notes

Leale and legale are the same Latin word, one borrowed through Gallo-Romance and the other learned.^[5][1] Zingarelli contrasts leale, said of keeping a pact between persons, with giusto, said of judging by shared norms.^[3] The GDLI has an obsolete noun leale, the free strip along a river bank kept for navigation, which it derives from le, from Old French lé “width”.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2189
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 8, 869
15. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 8, 870