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prestito

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word prestito

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1385, Ferrara documents
Borrowed from
Latin praestitum
Ultimate origin
Latin praestō

Pronunciation

  • /ˈprɛs.ti.to/[1]

Forms

prestito m (plural prestiti)[1] Old forms include prestedo and prestido.[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin praestitum (“something lent”), the neuter of praestitus, past participle of praestō (“to make available; to guarantee, to lend”).[3][4][5][6] DELI, Zingarelli and the GDLI call it a learned word.[7][6][2] DELI quotes the jurist Gravina, who noted that the Latin of Optatus already used the participle for a loan, as Italian does.[7]

The Latin verb is derived from the adverb meaning “ready, at hand”;[3][7] Nocentini notes that its forms merged with those of the verb meaning “to excel”, a compound of prae- (“before”) and stō (“to stand”).[3][7] The verb lives on in prestare, French prêter, Occitan prestar, Spanish prestar and Portuguese prestar.[3][8] imprestito grew out of the phrase meaning “to give on loan”, and it passed to Spanish emprestido and Portuguese emprestido.[8]

The linguistic sense “loan, loanword” follows French emprunt, which is first recorded with this meaning in the 1826 edition of Casanova's memoirs.[7][4][9] DEI also compares German Entlehnung, Spanish préstamo and English loan, and notes that the word has overtaken the longer form, the term introduced by Graziadio Isaia Ascoli.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Zingarelli date the first record to 1385, in the form prestedo in Ferrarese texts, though DELI finds its meaning there unclear.[5][6][7] DELI's first clear record is Matteo Bandello in 1554, for the act of lending.[7]

Semantic evolution

Segneri, in the 17th century, condemned profiting from a simple loan, and DEI dates the word to his time.[11][10] In the 19th century it took on financial and political senses: state loans, forced loans and the Cassa di depositi e prestiti appear in Tommaseo's dictionary, and a newspaper of 1866 uses it for money lent.[11][7]

The linguistic sense was used by Pietro Colletta before 1831, who wished that “modern” uses of words would be blamed, since Italian did not need such prestiti.[7] The term prestito linguistico is recorded in 1952, in Tagliavini's book on the origins of the Romance languages.[7] Later senses are the lending of books by libraries and the transfer of a player from one club to another for a season.[5][12]

Timeline

  • 1385 – Prestedo appears in Ferrarese texts.[5][7]
  • 1554 – Bandello uses prestito for the act of lending.[7]
  • Before 1831 – Pietro Colletta uses it of words taken from another language.[7]
  • 1826 – French emprunt “loan from another language” is recorded.[7]
  • 1866 – A Verona newspaper uses it for money lent.[7]
  • 1871 – A political and economic use is recorded.[10]
  • 1952 – Prestito linguistico appears in Tagliavini.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A loan: the handing over of money or of a thing for a period, with the obligation to give it back, sometimes with interest: Mi ha chiesto in prestito la bicicletta per il fine settimana.[5][4][9]
  2. The thing lent: Questo cappotto non è mio, è un prestito.[5][6][13]
  3. A sum of money lent, especially by a bank: Hanno ottenuto un prestito per comprare casa.[5][6][12]
  4. The lending of books by a library.[5]
  5. (sport) The temporary transfer of a player to another club: Il portiere giocherà in prestito per un anno.[5][12]
  6. (linguistics) The taking of a word or other element from another language or dialect; also the loanword itself.[5][9][6][1]

Word family

  • imprestito

Usage notes

Dare in prestito means “to lend” and prendere in (or a) prestito “to borrow”, also figuratively of ideas taken from others.[4][6][12] A prestito d'onore is a loan on easy terms to students or young entrepreneurs.[4][6][13]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 14, 272
  3. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  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 i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  10. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3072
  11. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  12. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  13. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli

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

“Prestito.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/prestito. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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