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scommettere

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word scommettere

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1521
Ultimate origin
Latin committō

Pronunciation

  • /skomˈmet.te.re/[1]

Forms

scommettere (first-person singular present scommétto, first-person singular past historic scommìsi, past participle scommésso, auxiliary avére)[1]

Etymology

DELI, GRADIT, Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti derive the betting verb, though DELI calls the change of meaning unclear, from an older verb of the same form meaning “to take apart, disjoin”, formed from Italian s- + commettere (“to join together”) with the privative prefix.[2][3][4][5][6] Devoto–Oli, Treccani and the Battaglia dictionary explain the shift as “to set apart the two opposing opinions” or “to make two parts”.[4][7][8]

Nocentini, following Silvia Pieroni, finds that explanation forced and unsupported by the documents.[9] He starts from Latin committere (“to put together; to set against each other”), strengthened in Proto-Romance with ex- into a Vulgar Latin *excommittere (“to challenge, provoke”), a sense attested in Old French escommetre and Old Occitan escometre.[9] From it came the noun scommessa “a challenge with a stake; the stake”, recorded from 1485, and, from that noun the verb “to stake something on one's claim or forecast”.[9] The LEI classes the betting verb under committō in the sense “to stake on something, to entrust oneself to an outcome”, and notes that its link with the other senses is not yet clear.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini dates the verb to 1521 and the noun scommessa to 1485;[9][2][8] DELI's first record of the noun is in Marino Sanudo before 1536, and Sanudo also has the Venetian scometiere “habitual better”.[9][2][8] DELI and GRADIT date the verb from Oudin's dictionary of 1640, in the sense of a forecast on which two or more people commit themselves to pay a sum according to who turns out to be right, and the LEI has Galileo, about 1642.[2][3][10]

Semantic evolution

Before 1712 Lorenzo Magalotti uses the verb for affirming something with certainty, and in 1814 a Milanese paper uses it for staking money at gambling.[2] Tommaseo quotes Francesco Redi on a learned man who would have bet everything he owned that a single drop of viper's bile could kill the strongest man.[11] The verb is found in dialects across the north, such as Genoese scommette, Piedmontese scoumëtte and Venetian scomèter.[10]

Modern usage has hyperbolic phrases such as scommettere la testa “to bet one's head” and ci puoi scommettere “you can bet on it”, and the figurative sense “to put one's trust in someone or something”.[3][4][6]

Timeline

  • 1485 – The noun scommessa is first recorded.[9]
  • 1521 – First record of the verb according to Nocentini.[9]
  • Before 1536 – Marino Sanudo uses scommessa and scometiere.[2][8]
  • 1640 – Oudin's dictionary has scommettere and scommettitore.[2]
  • c. 1642 – Galileo uses the verb.[10]
  • Before 1712 – Magalotti uses it for affirming something with certainty.[2]
  • 1814 – The sense “to stake money at gambling”, in a Milanese paper.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To bet, wager: to agree a stake with someone on who is right about a claim or forecast: Scommettiamo una birra che domani piove?[3][4][5][1]
  2. To stake money on the result of a game, race or match: Ha scommesso metà dello stipendio sulle corse dei cavalli.[3][4][6]
  3. To be sure of something, to say it with certainty: Scommetto che arriverà in ritardo anche oggi.[3][4][5]
  4. (figurative) To put one's trust in someone or something: L'azienda ha deciso di scommettere sui giovani.[4]

Word family

  • scommessa
  • scommettitore

Usage notes

An older, separate scommettere, formed from commettere with the privative s-, means “to take apart, disjoin” and, figuratively and in old use, “to sow discord”.[2][3][9] It is recorded from Dante (1310–1313), who places in Hell quei che scommettendo acquistan carco (“those who, by sowing division, take on guilt”), and is still used of boards or joints coming apart.[2][3][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  4. ^ 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
  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 Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  7. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  8. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 18, 135
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  10. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 15, 1534
  11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
Cite this entry

“Scommettere.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/scommettere. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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