Etymologically
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verità

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Pronunciation

Forms

verità f (invariable)[1] Old forms include Old Italian veritate, Old Italian veritade and Old Italian vertà.[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin vēritās (“truth”), from the accusative ⟨vēritātem⟩, a learned word.[4][5][6][1] The older forms Old Italian veritate and veritade were shortened to the modern form.[7][2] Wiktionary calls the modern form semi-learned, remade on the Latin, and the obsolete vertà, vertade and vertate inherited;[1][2] Guittone d'Arezzo already writes the short form in the 13th century.[1][2]

The Latin word survives in every Romance language except Romanian.[2] It gave Old French verté, Old Occitan verdat, Spanish verdad and Portuguese verdade, while French vérité and Catalan veritat are learned like the Italian.[8][4]

The Latin noun is formed from vērus (“true, real”) with the suffix -tās.[1][9] The adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *wēros and Proto-Indo-European *weh₁ros (“true”), and is related to Old Irish fír (“true”), Old High German wār (“true”) and Old Church Slavonic вѣра (věra, “faith”).[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is veritate, in Brunetto Latini before 1294, for what corresponds exactly to reality; the form verità is in Dante (1304–1308).[11][5] In the Tesoretto Brunetto writes: “E io, ch'ognora atendo / e saper veritate” (and I, who always strive to know the truth).[3]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century Guidotto da Bologna already writes that it is the witnesses' duty to tell the truth and the judge's to find it.[3] The abstract sense “the quality of being true” is recorded in the 14th century in an Italian translation of the Bible.[11] The adjective veritiero “truthful” is of the end of the 13th century.[4]

Modern dictionaries record further uses: truth in the absolute sense in Petrocchi (1891), verità rivelata, revealed truth, in Panzini (1905), and a dire la verità “to be honest” in 1961.[11] The Gospel formula in verità vi dico renders the Hebrew amen.[7] In apposition the word describes what shows reality as it is, as in cinema verità.[7][5] Macchina della verità, the lie detector, and siero della verità, truth serum, are 20th-century phrases.[12][5]

Timeline

  • 13th century – Guittone d'Arezzo uses vertà.[2]
  • Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses veritate.[11]
  • End of the 13th century – Veritiero is recorded.[4]
  • 1304–1308 – Dante uses the form verità.[11]
  • 14th century – A translation of the Bible uses it for the quality of being true.[11]
  • 1905 – Verità rivelata is recorded.[11]
  • 1961 – A dire la verità is recorded.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The quality of being true, agreement with reality: Nessuno dubita della verità del suo racconto.[5][6][7]
  2. What is true; the real facts, as opposed to a lie or an error: Prima o poi verrà fuori la verità.[5][6][7]
  3. A statement or principle held to be true: Ha detto una verità che nessuno voleva sentire.[5]
  4. (philosophy, theology) Truth in the absolute sense.[7][11]
  5. sincerity, good faith.[5]
  6. (in apposition) Showing reality as it is: cinema verità.[7][5]

Word family

  • veritiero
  • semiverità

Usage notes

The noun is invariable: le verità.[5][1] Common phrases are a dire la verità and per la verità “to be honest, to tell the truth”, in verità “truly”, and the witness's oath giuro di dire la verità.[5][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4023
  3. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21, 781
  4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. Supplemento 2009