triste

Forms

triste m or f by sense (plural tristi, superlative tristissimo)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin trīstis (“sad, gloomy; harsh”), a learned form beside tristo, which continues the popular Vulgar Latin trīstus.^[2][3][4][1] The popular variant was made on the model of laetus (“glad”) and maestus (“sorrowful”), and the Appendix Probi of the 5th century AD censured it.^[2][3][5]

The adjective was inherited in Occitan trist, Catalan trist, Spanish triste, Portuguese triste, Sardinian tristu and Romanian trist, while French triste is learned.^[3][6] The Latin adjective has no good etymology: de Vaan rejects a link with Old English þrīste (“audacious”) on the ground of the sound changes.^[7][8][1]

DELI, GRADIT and Nocentini date the word to Bembo, before 1547, but Zingarelli gives about 1336.^[2][4][3][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first records are in Pietro Bembo, before 1547, with the senses “expressing sorrow” and “unpleasant, bitter”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Already in Latin the meaning ranged from “sad, sorrowful” to “unpleasant, bitter” and “gloomy, ill-humoured, harsh”.^[2] For a long time the inherited tristo was the everyday word: Tommaseo remarked around 1871–1879 that triste was not used in speech, which always said tristo.^[2][10] Since then the learned form has become the ordinary adjective for “sad”, and tristo has kept the moral sense “wicked”.^[3][4]

The noun tristezza is older than triste itself: it is in a 13th-century song as tristeza, and tristizia in Dante.^[2]

Timeline

• 13th century – Tristeza “sadness” in an anonymous song.^[2]
• c. 1336 – Zingarelli's date for triste.^[9]
• Before 1547 – Pietro Bembo uses triste.^[2][4]
• 1871 – Tommaseo–Bellini notes that triste is not in spoken use.^[2][10]
• 1891 – Petrocchi records the sense “joyless”.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. sad, unhappy, melancholy: Da quando si è trasferito è sempre un po' triste.^{[4][11][12][1]}
2. Showing sadness: Ci salutò con un sorriso triste.^[4][11][13]
3. Causing sorrow; painful, unpleasant: È stata una triste vicenda per tutta la famiglia.^[4][11][12]
4. Gloomy, depressing; of a place, bleak and desolate: D'inverno quella spiaggia è molto triste.^[4][12][1]

Word family

• tristezza
• tristemente
• rattristare
• intristire
• contristare
• attristare

Related words

• tristo
• tristizia
• Latin trīstis
• French triste

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 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. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b 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 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana