sicurtà

Forms

sicurtà f (invariable)^[1] Old and literary forms include sicurtate, sicurtade, sicurità, securità and securtà.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sēcūritātem (“freedom from care; safety”), the accusative of the Latin noun, with the final syllable dropped.^{[5][6][7][4][1]} The fuller old forms Old Italian sicurtate and Old Italian sicurtade keep it.^[2][3] Wiktionary also analyses it as from Italian sicuro + -ità.^[1]

The Latin noun is formed sēcūrus (“free from care, safe”) with the suffix -tās.^[8][1] Wiktionary gives sicurità as a variant.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is from 1253, in a text of Arrigo Accattapane, with the sense “security, safety”.^[5][6] GRADIT dates the word before 1294 and Zingarelli before 1257.^[7][9]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the word meant both safety and the confidence that comes with it: Bono Giamboni uses it for “trust”, and in the Inferno Dante thanks his guide for having given him back his sicurtà more than seven times.^[3][10] It could also mean boldness, as in Dante's apology for speaking too freely.^[7][2]

In the 14th century it took legal and commercial senses: Boccaccio uses it for a guarantee or surety, and also for the person who stands surety, and Giovanni Villani for insurance.^[3][9] Today the word is literary except in the language of insurance, especially marine insurance: polizza di sicurtà, sicurtà di mare.^[7][11][9]

The insurance sense was borrowed by Ottoman Turkish, which passed it on to Turkish sigorta (“insurance”) and Azerbaijani sığorta.^[1]

Timeline

• 1253 – Sicurtà is recorded in a text of Arrigo Accattapane.^[5][6]
• 13th century – Bono Giamboni uses it for “trust”.^[3]
• 1306–1321 – Dante uses it for “safety” and “boldness” in the Commedia.^[10][7]
• 14th century – Boccaccio uses it for “guarantee, surety”, and Giovanni Villani for “insurance”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary) security, safety, freedom from danger and fear.^[7][11][2]
2. (archaic) confidence, boldness.^[7][9]
3. (archaic) A guarantee or surety; also the person who stands surety.^[7][9][11]
4. (law, finance) insurance, especially marine insurance: polizza di sicurtà, sicurtà di mare.^[7][11][12]

Related words

• sicuro
• sicurezza
• Latin securitas

Usage notes

The word is invariable.^[1][4] In modern use it survives mainly in set phrases of insurance law: polizza, premio and ordinativo di sicurtà.^[7][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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)
3. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3489
4. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c 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 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
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. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli