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Etymology and origin of the Italian word odio

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1219, Breve di Montieri
Borrowed from
Latin odium
Ultimate origin
Latin ōdī
From the same root
Italian odiare ← odio

Pronunciation

Forms

odio m (plural odi)[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin odium (“hatred”), from the verb ōdī (“I hate”), a perfect with present meaning.[2][3][4][1] DEI notes that it came down mainly through the Medieval Latin of the Church; a semi-popular outcome survives only in Old Catalan oy.[5][6] The inherited doublet is uggia (“boredom, irritation”), which Körting traced to the plural odia.[1][7] Spanish odio is also learned.[3][7]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *odjom and has a cognate in Oscan oiim; its /d/ was restored after the verb.[1] DELI finds no sure Indo-European relatives for the verb, while Nocentini and Devoto compare a Greek verb meaning “to be angry” and an Armenian one meaning “to hate”.[2][3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Breve di Montieri, a statute of the Tuscan town of Montieri, of 1219, with the sense “total and intense aversion towards someone”.[2][4][9]

Semantic evolution

Brunetto Latini defined hatred as old anger: “Odio non è altro se non ira invecchiata” (hatred is nothing but anger grown old), and the 14th-century commentators on Dante repeat the definition.[10][11] Dante gives the word a moral sense, the condemnation that evil earns in heaven.[4] The sense “deep intolerance of something” appears in Giovanni Della Casa (before 1556).[2]

The verb odiare is formed in Italian from the noun and is recorded before 1250, and odioso “hateful” appears in Dante.[2] Dante also took odibile directly from Latin.[2] Modern usage has odio di classe “class hatred”, and Devoto–Oli records discorso di incitamento all'odio as the Italian for hate speech.[4][12]

Timeline

  • 1219 – Odio appears in the Breve di Montieri.[2][4]
  • Before 1250 – The verb odiare is recorded.[2]
  • 1304–1308 – Dante uses odioso and odibile.[2]
  • Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses odiabile.[2]
  • Before 1556 – Della Casa uses odio for an intolerance of things.[2]
  • 1640 – Odiosità is recorded.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. hatred, hate: strong hostility towards someone, with a wish to harm them: Lo guardava con odio.[4][12][13][1]
  2. A deep aversion to or intolerance of something: avere in odio la menzogna.[4][9][14]
  3. In a weaker sense, strong dislike: Ha un odio per le feste di compleanno.[4][15]
  4. (uncommon) An object of hatred or dislike.[13][12][1]
  5. (literary) Moral condemnation of evil.[4][1]

Word family

  • odiato
  • odiatore
  • uggia
  • Latin odium

Usage notes

Odio is also the first person singular present of odiare: (io) odio, “I hate”.[1] The plural is odi, less often odii.[9][12] Avere in odio means “to hate”, and venire in odio a qualcuno “to become hateful to someone”.[9][14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2628
  6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  7. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 11, 808
  11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET, p. 3, 572
  12. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  13. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli

Derived terms

Related etymologies

  • no · also from Latin
  • cosa · also from Latin
  • a · also from Latin
  • mio · also from Latin
  • uno · also from Latin
  • si · also from Latin
  • sapere · also from Latin
  • fare · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Odio.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/odio. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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