sanità

Forms

sanità f (invariable)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian sanitade, Old Italian sanitate, Old Italian sanetate, Old Italian santade, Old Italian santate and Old Italian santà.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sānitās (“health”);^[5][6][3][7] Sabatini–Coletti note the loss of the final syllable of the accusative.^[5][6][3][7] Wiktionary suggests the form may be semi-learned, and compares the archaic santà, in which the vowel before the stress has dropped.^[1] The GDLI compares the old form with Old French santé.^[2]

DEI calls the word pan-Romance: it is Romanian sănătate, Dalmatian santut, Sardinian sanidade, Romansh sandet, French santé, Old Occitan santat, Catalan sanitat, Spanish sanidad and Portuguese sanidade.^[7][4] The Latin noun is formed from sānus (“healthy, sane”) with the suffix -tās.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is from B. Giamboni, before 1292, in the sense “a state of the body in which it can carry out all its functions, good health”.^[9][5] The GDLI quotes Giamboni's line that good wine drunk in moderation preserves health (conserva santade).^[10]

Semantic evolution

From bodily health the word extended to the healthiness of air, water and places, recorded about 1350 in the Italian translation of Crescenzi.^[9] In 1487 the Senate of Venice used it for the body in charge of public health, the sense behind the modern ministero della sanità.^[9][5]

In the 19th century it came to name the army's medical corps.^[4] Today it also means the protection of public health as a duty of the state and the whole system of offices and staff that provide it, as in mala sanità and the Organizzazione Mondiale della Sanità.^[5][11] A figurative sense, moral soundness (sanità di principi), is also listed.^[3][12][13]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – B. Giamboni uses the word for good health.^[9]
• c. 1350 – The sense “healthiness” of a place or climate appears.^[9]
• 1487 – The Senate of Venice uses it for the public health office.^[9]
• 19th century – It comes to name the army's medical corps.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. health: the condition of being sound in body and mind: sanità mentale.^[5][11][14]
2. (figurative) Moral soundness, integrity.^[3][12][13]
3. Healthiness: the quality of what does good, or no harm, to health.^[3][12][13]
4. Public health as a task of the state, and the whole system of bodies, offices and staff responsible for it: Hanno tagliato i fondi alla sanità.^[5][11][14]
5. (military) The army's medical corps.^[5][12][1]

Word family

• sanitario
• sanitizzare

Related words

• sano
• santà
• salute
• Latin sānitās

Usage notes

In perfetta sanità di mente (of sound mind) is a set formula of wills.^[14] The proverb chi ha la sanità è ricco e non lo sa says that a healthy person is rich without knowing it.^[11][14] The noun is invariable.^[1][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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
3. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3333
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 17, 519
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ 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)