lecito

Forms

lecito (feminine lecita, masculine plural leciti, feminine plural lecite)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian licito, Old Italian leceto and Old Italian lizito.^[2][3] Licito survived as an archaic and literary form.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin licitus (“permitted, lawful”), the past participle of the impersonal licet (“it is permitted”).^[3][6][1][7] The GDLI calls the Italian word learned.^[8] Nocentini, by contrast, singles out French licite and Spanish lícito as the learned forms.^[6] From the neuter plural licita “things permitted” come names of a toll: Old Occitan lezda, Catalan lleuda and Spanish lezda.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Breve di Montieri of 1219, a statute of the Tuscan mining town, in the form licito.^[3][6][2] The sense is that of the oldest texts: allowed by morals or custom, and in statutes, allowed by the law or the rules.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The earliest form, from 1219, is licito, with the vowel of Latin.^[3] Leceto is in Jacopone da Todi (before 1306), and lecito is the form of Passavanti (1354).^[3] Dante says of Semiramis that she libito fé licito in sua legge (“made lust lawful in her law”, Inferno 5).^[8][5] Old Italian also used the word for what is fitting or well founded, for what nothing prevents, and of a person who has the right to do something.^[2] Tommaseo observed that licito was the more common form in Dante's time.^[11]

The noun il lecito, what is allowed, is recorded before 1673 in O. Rucellai.^[3] The adverb appears as licitamente before 1342 (Cavalca) and as lecitamente before 1419.^[3] Its opposite illecito came in at the start of the 14th century from Latin illicitus.^[6] Polite formulas such as se è lecito and mi sia lecito soften a question or a claim.^[5][12]

Timeline

• 1219 – Licito in the Breve di Montieri.^[3][2]
• Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses leceto.^[3]
• Early 14th century – Illecito is first recorded.^[6]
• Before 1342 – Cavalca uses licitamente.^[3]
• 1354 – Passavanti uses the form lecito.^[3]
• Before 1673 – O. Rucellai uses il lecito as a noun.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Allowed by morals, custom or decorum; licit, proper: Non mi pare lecito alzare la voce con lui.^{[13][4][14][5]}
2. (law) lawful: not contrary to the law, public order or morals.^{[12][13][14][15]}
3. With essere, allowed or possible: È lecito supporre che arrivi domani.^[13][4][5]

Noun

1. (singular only) What is allowed or legitimate: superare il limite del lecito.^{[13][4][12][5]}

Word family

• lecitamente
• lecitezza
• illecito

Related words

• leicità
• lecere
• licenza
• Latin licitus

Usage notes

The proverb domandare è lecito, rispondere è cortesia means that asking is no offence but there is no duty to answer.^[4][5] Farsi lecito (uncommon) means to take the liberty of doing something.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ 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
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2192
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli