peccato

Forms

peccato m (plural peccati or (archaic) peccata f, diminutive peccatino or peccatùccio or peccatuzzo, augmentative peccatóne, pejorative peccatàccio)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian peccado, Old Italian pecato and Old Italian peccao, and the old plural le peccata.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin peccātum (“error, fault; sin”), the past participle of peccō (“to make a mistake, do wrong”) used as a noun.^[4][5][1][6] Zingarelli calls it a learned word, but the DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance neuter ⟨*/pekˈkatu/⟩, on the evidence of the neuter in Romanian and the old Italian plural ⟨peccata⟩.^[3][7] Latin had the word from Plautus in the sense “error” and, from Tertullian in the sense “sin”, which Christian writers gave it to translate Ancient Greek ἁμαρτία (hamartía).^[7]

It is pan-Romance: Romanian păcat, French péché, Occitan pecat, Catalan pecat, Spanish pecado, Portuguese pecado, Sardinian peccadu and Friulian pekad;^[8][9] it was borrowed as Welsh pechawd.^[8][9] The origin of Latin peccō is unclear: Walde–Hofmann and Ernout–Meillet thought of a form meaning “having a fault in the foot”, but de Vaan doubts it, and Leumann's link with Proto-Indo-European *pet- (“to fall”) is semantically better but formally odd.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Giacomo da Lentini, before 1250, in the sense “behaviour that breaks the moral and divine law”;^[11][5] GRADIT dates the word to the first half of the 12th century.^[11][5]

Semantic evolution

The broader sense “error, fault” is in Guido Cavalcanti, before 1300.^[11] Fra Giordano preached that sin is nothing but a mortal enmity between God and man.^[12] From before 1764, in Francesco Algarotti, peccato is used in many phrases, often exclamations, to express regret, and the bare exclamation peccato! is recorded in the 20th century, short for che peccato!.^[11][9] The same development “sin” > “pity, harm” is found in Romanian (e) păcat, Old French pechiet and Logudorese peccau.^[8][9]

Spanish pecadillo “small fault” was borrowed into old Italian as peccadiglio and into French as peccadille.^[8] Theology gave the fixed phrases peccato originale, peccato mortale and veniale, and the seven peccati capitali; popular speech has brutto come il peccato “as ugly as sin” and the proverb peccato confessato è mezzo perdonato.^[3][13][14]

Timeline

• First half of the 12th century – GRADIT's date for the first record.^[5]
• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses peccato “sin”.^[11]
• Before 1300 – Guido Cavalcanti uses it for an error.^[11]
• Before 1764 – Francesco Algarotti uses it in expressions of regret.^[11]
• 20th century – The exclamation peccato! “what a pity!”.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (theology) A sin, a deliberate breaking of divine law: confessare i propri peccati.^{[5][14][15][1]}
2. A sinful state, especially a relationship outside marriage: vivere nel peccato.^[5][3]
3. A fault, a mistake; a flaw: È stato un peccato di superbia.^[5][15][3]
4. With essere and similar verbs, a pity, a shame: È un peccato che tu non resti a cena.^{[5][15][3][1]}
5. (literary) Ill fortune, the unfairness of fate.^[5][3]

Interjection

1. What a pity!, too bad!: Non vieni? Peccato!^[5][15][1]

Word family

• peccatuccio
• peccatore
• peccaminoso

Related words

• peccare
• impeccabile
• Latin peccatum
• French péché

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12, 896
3. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 322
7. ^ a b Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
8. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2812
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse