radice

Forms

radice f (plural radici)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin rādīx (“root; base; origin”).^[2][3][4][1] DEI calls the word western panromance: Old French raiz, Occitan raitz, Catalan arrel, Spanish raíz and Portuguese raiz continue it, while modern French racine comes from the derived Late Latin rādīcīna, which displaced the base word in almost all of France and is also the form Jacopone da Todi used.^[3][5][6] Northern Italian dialects have forms such as Venetian raise and Piedmontese reis.^[7]

The Latin word continues Proto-Italic *wrād-ī-, which de Vaan derives from Proto-Indo-European *ur(e)h₂-d-iH- (“root”).^[8] Its cognates include Ancient Greek ῥάδιξ (rhádix, “branch”), Ancient Greek ῥίζα (rhíza, “root”), Welsh gwraidd (“roots”), Old High German wurz (“plant”) (whence German Wurzel) and Old Norse rót (whence English root).^[3][8] De Vaan finds it likely that the *-d- was a suffix, and DELI notes that the word belongs with Latin rāmus (“branch”) but that no common base can be reconstructed.^[8][2]

The Latin diminutive rādīcula is the source of radicchio, through Vulgar Latin *radiculum;^[2][3] Latin rādīcālis, first in Augustine, gave radicale.^[2][3] The political sense of the adjective came from English radical, used by Jeremy Bentham in 1811.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Nocentini date the word to the first half of the 13th century, GRADIT in the sense “lower part of something”.^[4][3] The northern form raixe appears in a Bolognese record of 1282, and Bono Giamboni (before 1292) uses radice for the root of a plant and in radice di tutti i mali (the root of all evils).^[2]

Semantic evolution

The figurative uses came early: the root of evils in Giamboni, a forebear in Dante (io fui radice de la mala pianta), and the root of a number in arithmetic, also in Dante (1293–1294).^[2][4][5] The anatomical root of nails, teeth and hair is recorded from the 14th century, and grammar took the word for the root of a word by the 17th century.^[5][2]

In Tuscany, Emilia, Romagna, Sicily and Sardinia radice also names the radish, a sense that Latin rādīx already had.^[5][9] From Italian it passed into French as radice (1507), later radis (1611).^[10][1]

Timeline

• First half of the 13th century – The first record, in the sense “lower part of something”.^[4][3]
• 1282 – The Bolognese form raixe is recorded.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses radice for the root of a plant and figuratively for an origin.^[2]
• 1293–1294 – Dante uses it for the root of a number.^[2]
• Before 1388 – Radice “radish” is recorded.^[10]
• 1507 – French radice “radish”, later radis (1611), is recorded.^[10]
• Before 1652 – Pietro Della Valle uses it for the root of a word.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) A root, the part of a plant, usually underground, that anchors it and takes up water and minerals: Il vento ha strappato l'albero con tutte le radici.^{[4][11][12][13]}
2. The lowest part of something, its base or foot: le radici della collina.^[4][13][14]
3. (figurative) The origin, cause or source of something: Bisogna capire la radice del conflitto.^[4][12][13]
4. (literary) A forebear, the founder of a line.^[4][12]
5. (anatomy) The part of an organ set in the surrounding tissue: the root of a tooth, a hair or a nail; also the root of a nerve.^[4][12][13]
6. (mathematics) The root of a number or of an equation: radice quadrata, radice cubica.^[12][13]
7. (linguistics) The root of a word, the irreducible element shared by a word family.^[12][13]
8. (regional, Tuscany) The radish.^[5][15]

Word family

• radicale
• radicalismo
• radicalmente
• radicalizzare
• radicare
• radicamento
• radicando
• radicchio
• radichetta
• radicolare
• sradicare
• diradicare

Related words

• radiciforme
• radicina
• radica
• Latin radix
• French racine

Usage notes

Common phrases are mettere radici (to take root; to settle for good) and estirpare alla radice (to eradicate).^[13][14] The popular synonym radica is listed by Zingarelli.^[13]

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 k l 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 h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3193
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 818
10. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
11. ^ 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 d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET