Etymologically
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segreto

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Pronunciation

  • /seˈɡre.to/, /seˈɡrɛ.to/[1]

Forms

segreto (feminine segreta, masculine plural segreti, feminine plural segrete, superlative segretissimo)[1] Old and literary forms include Old Italian secreto, Old Italian sacreto, Old Italian sagreto and Old Italian secrito.[2] Secreto is still a literary variant.[3][4]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin sēcrētus (“separated, set apart; hidden”) for the adjective and its neuter used as a noun, sēcrētum (“a secluded place; a secret thing”), for the noun.[5][6][7][1] The Latin adjective is the past participle of sēcernō (“to separate, set apart”), made up of sē- (“apart”) and cernō (“to sift, distinguish”).[5][6][8][9]

DEI and Devoto hold that the word reached Tuscan through the northern dialects, which explains the voiced /ɡ/ in place of the Latin /k/ of the cluster.[10][11][4] The same Latin word gave French secret and Spanish secreto;[6] it survives in popular form in Romanian secret (“deserted, desolate”) and was borrowed as Old Irish secreit and into Albanian, where Albanian shkretë means “desolate; orphaned”.[10][12] It also gave Venetian sagredo.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the noun, in Dante's Vita nuova (1293–1294), for a thing kept hidden in one's own heart.[5] The GDLI quotes the passage: “lo mio secreto non era comunicato lo giorno altrui per mia vista” (my secret had not been revealed to others that day by my looks).[2] The adjective “hidden, not to be revealed” appears at the end of the 13th century in the Novellino, where a hermit writes to “a suo amico secreto”, a trusted friend.[5][2] GRADIT dates the adjective to about 1250 and the noun to the first half of the 13th century.[7]

Semantic evolution

Dante also used the adjective for “secluded, out of the way”, as in “per un secreto calle” (along a hidden path), and the noun for “the inmost part” (1304–1308).[5][7] The sense “a person who can keep a confidence” is recorded from Varchi (before 1565), “a special method or trick” from Pulci (1483), and “a lock mechanism with a secret combination” from Tommaseo's dictionary (1873).[5] In old Florence a segreto was also a secluded room, and the office of the officials called the ufficiali del segreto.[13]

The derivative Medieval Latin secretarius was formed, one to whom confidential matters are entrusted (1281–1288, Salimbene), and Italian segretario follows from Boccaccio (before 1375), with segreteria (before 1535) and segreteria telefonica “answering machine” (1969).[5][6] The feminine segreta became a steel cap worn under the helmet (15th century) and a windowless prison cell (1525).[5] Today the noun forms legal and political terms such as segreto professionale and segreto di Stato, and the adjective servizi segreti, agente segreto and voto segreto.[7][14]

Timeline

  • 1281–1288 – Salimbene uses Medieval Latin secretarius.[5]
  • 1293–1294 – Dante's Vita nuova has the noun secreto.[5][2]
  • Late 13th century – The adjective appears in the Novellino.[5]
  • Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses secretario for a prince's trusted man.[5]
  • 1483 – Pulci uses segreto for a special method or trick.[5]
  • Before 1529 – Castiglione uses segretezza.[5][6]
  • 1873 – Tommaseo's dictionary records the sense “secret lock mechanism”.[5]
  • 1969 – Segreteria telefonica is recorded for the answering machine.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A secret: something known to few that must not be revealed: Mi ha confidato un segreto che non posso dirti.[7][3][4][1]
  2. The secret of something: a method or trick known to few that brings success: il segreto di una buona torta.[7][3][4]
  3. secrecy, confidentiality, segreto professionale: professional secrecy.[7][4]
  4. A concealed mechanism of a lock that opens only with a combination; a hidden drawer in a piece of furniture.[7][4]
  5. (literary) The inmost part: nel segreto del cuore, in one's heart of hearts.[7][4]

Adjective

  1. Hidden from view or from others' knowledge: un passaggio segreto.[7][3][4]
  2. Done in secret, clandestine: una riunione segreta.[7][3][15]
  3. Confidential, accessible only to a few: un dossier segreto.[7][3][15]
  4. (figurative) Kept deep inside: un desiderio segreto.[7][3][15]
  5. Of a person: concealing their identity or role: agente segreto, a secret agent.[3][15][16]
  6. (uncommon) discreet, able to keep a confidence.[3][4][15]
  7. (literary) Secluded, out of the way: Dante's “per un secreto calle”.[7][4][14]

Word family

  • segretario
  • segreteria
  • segretariato
  • sottosegretario
  • segretezza
  • segreta
  • segretamente
  • segretare

Usage notes

In segreto means “secretly”, and segreto di Pulcinella is an open secret, something meant to be secret that everyone knows.[15][16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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, 498
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  8. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
  9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3443
  11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  13. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 906
  14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  15. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  16. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli