punire

Forms

punire (first-person singular present punìsco, first-person singular past historic punìi, past participle punìto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin pūniō (“to punish”), a learned word.^[2][3][4][5] The Latin verb is formed on poena (“penalty, punishment”), in the sense “to inflict a penalty”, and Wiktionary gives the older spelling poeniō.^[3][1] DEI suggests that it was formed by way of an adjective, and Devoto that it followed the model of moenia (“walls”) beside mūniō (“to fortify”).^[6][7] GRADIT calls the derivation from the noun probable.^[4] The Latin noun is from Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ, “penalty, blood money”), which DEI cites in the Doric form.^[1][6]

French punir is the same learned borrowing, recorded from the 13th century.^[3][6] pūnītor and pūnītiō were also taken into Italian as punitore and punizione.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli dates the verb to before 1250, GRADIT to before 1294.^[8][4] DELI's first record is from the Novellino, of the late 13th century, in the sense “to subject to a penalty”.^[2] Among the oldest quotations in the GDLI is Brunetto Latini's Rettorica: Tu non la dovei punire (“you ought not to have punished her”), of Clytemnestra.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses the verb for divine justice: in Inferno 29 la ministra / dell'alto Sire infallibil giustizia / punisce i malfattor (“the minister of the high Lord, infallible justice, punishes the evildoers”).^[9] In Purgatorio 33 Adam longs for colui che 'l morso in sé punio (“him who punished the bite in himself”), that is, Christ, who would atone in his own person for original sin.^[9][10] DEI also records the sense “to avenge”, which Devoto–Oli gives for punire un'offesa.^[6][11]

The family grew in the 14th century: punitore (before 1342, D. Cavalca), punizione (before 1348, G. Villani), punitivo (before 1406, F. da Buti).^[2] In sport punizione has meant a free kick since 1939.^[2] The modern dictionaries add the extended sense “to penalize, put at a disadvantage”.^[4][11][12]

Timeline

• Before 1250 – Zingarelli's date for the first record.^[8]
• Late 13th century – Punire appears in the Novellino.^[2]
• 13th century – Punitore is first recorded.^[3]
• Before 1348 – Punizione appears in G. Villani.^[2]
• Before 1406 – Punitivo appears in F. da Buti.^[2]
• 1600 – Punibile appears in B. Davanzati.^[2]
• 1871 – Punibilità is first recorded.^[6]
• 1939 – Punizione “free kick” appears in Il Gazzettino.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To punish: to subject someone to a penalty or chastisement for wrongdoing: Il tribunale lo ha punito con tre anni di carcere.^[4][11][12]
2. (transitive) To punish an offence or crime: La nuova legge punisce l'evasione fiscale.^[11][12][8]
3. (transitive, by extension) To penalize, put at a disadvantage: Le nuove tariffe puniscono chi viaggia ogni giorno.^[4][11][13]
4. (transitive, figurative) To humble, mortify: to punish someone's pride or arrogance.^[13][10]
5. (reflexive, punirsi) To punish oneself.^[11][14][10]
6. (literary) To avenge an offence.^[11][14][10]

Word family

• punizione
• punitore
• punitivo
• punibile
• punimento

Related words

• pena
• penale
• French punir
• Latin pūniō
• Latin poena

Usage notes

The verb takes -isc- in the present: io punisco, tu punisci.^[8][14] The opposite is premiare or ricompensare.^[8][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ 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, 953
6. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3149
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ a b c d e f g 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 c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli