pagamento

Forms

pagamento m (plural pagamenti)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian pagament, Old Italian pagamentu, Old Italian paghamento and Old Italian pachamenti.^[2] An old variant is Old Italian pacamento.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Italian pagare + -mento, a noun of action from the verb.^[4][5][6][1] Medieval Latin pagamentum and pagamintum are recorded from 1224, and the Latin of Venice has pacamentum in 1255.^[5][4]

The verb pagare comes from Latin pācō (“to pacify”), from pāx (“peace”): paying a creditor satisfied him.^[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Libro of Uguccione da Lodi, from Cremona, early in the 13th century.^[2] DELI dates the word to 1272–1277, in a Florentine text, with the sense “the act of paying; a sum paid”.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the word for the transfer of money or goods to settle a debt, for wages due for work, and for taxes paid to the state;^[2] togliere in pagamento meant to buy.^[2] Figuratively it meant any return for another's act, a reward or a deserved punishment.^[2]

Latini and Boccaccio use it of debts left unpaid.^[3][8] Commerce and law have since built many phrases on it: mandato di pagamento, bilancia dei pagamenti, a pagamento (for a fee, as opposed to free).^[5][9] German borrowed it as Pagament (1580), a word now obsolete.^[10]

Timeline

• 1211 – The verb pagare is recorded in a Florentine bankers' book.^[4]
• 1224 – Medieval Latin pagamentum is recorded.^[5]
• 1255 – Venetian Medieval Latin has pacamentum.^[4]
• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses pagamento.^[2]
• 1272–1277 – Pagamento is recorded in a Florentine text.^[4][5]
• 1580 – German Pagament is recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. payment: the act of paying a sum of money or handing over a good to settle a debt or in exchange for a service: pagamento in contanti, pagamento a rate.^[5][11][9]
2. The sum paid or to be paid.^[5][11][12]
3. (figurative, uncommon) A reward or return, often ironic.^[5][11][12]

Word family

• prepagamento

Related words

• paga
• pagare
• pace

Usage notes

A pagamento means “for a fee”, the opposite of gratis.^[11][9]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
8. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
10. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli