Etymologically
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qualità

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 20:31. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • /kwa.liˈta/[1]

Forms

qualità f (invariable)[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin quālitās (“quality, nature”), from the accusative quālitātem, with the final syllable dropped.[2][3][4][5][1] The Latin noun is formed from quālis (“of what kind”) with the suffix -tās;[3][4][1] Cicero coined it as a calque of Ancient Greek ποιότης (poiótēs), from ποῖος (poîos, “of what kind”).[3][4][1] DEI and GDLI add that the scholastic philosophers spread it, and that it reached French qualité by the end of the 12th century.[6][7]

Old Italian had the fuller forms Old Italian qualitade and Old Italian qualitate.[7][8][9] The same learned word is Spanish cualidad.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is from an anonymous text of the first half of the 13th century, in the sense “moral or spiritual property of a person”.[2] GRADIT, Nocentini and Devoto–Oli give the same date.[4][3][10] The sense “the elements that make up the nature of a thing” is in Dante's Convivio (1304–1308), in the form qualitade.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century Boccaccio uses qualità also for social rank and for manner or way.[6][10] In his introduction to the Decameron he describes how “the quality of the said sickness” changed into black or livid spots (la qualità della predetta infermità).[11] The derived adjective qualitativo is recorded from the 14th century, from Late Latin qualitātīvus.[3]

In modern use the word often means good quality by itself (un prodotto di qualità), a use Devoto–Oli traces to French de qualité.[10] Qualità della vita renders French qualité de vie, and salto di qualità is a marked change for the better.[8][12] Industry speaks of controllo di qualità and qualità totale.[4][9]

Timeline

  • First half of the 13th century – Qualità appears for a moral property of a person.[2]
  • 1304–1308 – Dante uses qualitade for the nature of a thing.[2]
  • 14th century – Qualitativo is first recorded.[3]
  • 14th century – Boccaccio uses qualità for social rank.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A property, or the set of properties, that makes something what it is; its level of excellence: Questa stoffa è di ottima qualità.[4][12][1]
  2. A physical, moral or intellectual characteristic of a person; by itself, a good one, a virtue or merit: Ha molte qualità, ma è testardo.[4][10][12]
  3. (philosophy) The formal aspect of a being; in Aristotle and the scholastics, one of the categories; in Kant, one of the four headings of the categories of the understanding.[4]
  4. A kind, sort or variety: In questo negozio vendono tre qualità di caffè.[4][5][12]
  5. The set of features that makes a product or service meet its requirements: controllo di qualità.[4][9]
  6. in qualità di: as, in the capacity of.[12][8][9]
  7. (literary, dated) High social rank: una signora di qualità.[5][8]

Word family

  • qualitativo

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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 f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3169
  7. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 15, 45
  8. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  9. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  12. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli