Etymologically
Log in

vittima

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 21 October 2026 at 19:53. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /ˈvit.ti.ma/[1]

Forms

vittima f (plural vittime)[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin victima (“sacrificial animal”).[2][3][4][1] The same Latin noun gave French victime, recorded from the 14th century, and Spanish víctima.[5][3]

The origin of the Latin word is obscure.[2][6][7] DELI quotes Ernout and Meillet, who wondered whether the word, though it looks Indo-European, was Latin at all, and thought Etruscan might have taken it from an Indo-European language and passed it on to Latin; the Romans themselves offered three popular etymologies, which Festus records.[2] Devoto saw in it a superlative-like formation on a stem meaning “exchange”, the one in vicis (“turn, change”), so that the victim was the best return offered to the god;[8][3] Nocentini finds this the most persuasive explanation, since the ancients saw sacrifice as an exchange of gifts between men and gods.[8][3] De Vaan likewise allows a noun meaning “exchange”, but also mentions a link with Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to select, sift”), the root of Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐍃 (weihs, “holy”) and Old High German wīh (“holy”), words from the same religious sphere.[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the word to 1313–1319, in Dante, in the sense of one who suffers injustice or violence.[4][2] The TLIO cites an uncertain earlier witness, a Florentine translation of Aristotle's Ethics attributed to Taddeo Alderotti (before 1295), and then Dante's Commedia, where the word is used of a sacrificial victim and of a person killed or stripped of possessions or freedom.[10] In Purgatorio Dante writes of Charles of Anjou that he “Vittima fè di Corradino” (made a victim of Conradin).[6]

Semantic evolution

Dante also used the word for the sacrifice itself, a sense now obsolete.[2][11] The sense “person who dies or is harmed in a disaster” is recorded before 1348 in Giovanni Villani, while the literal sense of an animal offered to a god appears only in the 16th century, in Annibal Caro's translation of the Aeneid: “offro per vittima” (I offer as a victim) a white bull to Jove.[2][5][12] A later extension, someone who suffers the effects of their own or others' faults, is recorded in 1802.[2]

In Christian language la Vittima is Christ, sacrificed on the Cross.[6][11] The ironic fare la vittima, to play the victim, led in the 20th century to vittimismo (1922 in Nocentini, 1942 in DELI), vittimista and vittimistico, and later to vittimizzare (1938) and vittimizzazione (1983).[3][2]

Timeline

  • Before 1295 – An uncertain early use appears in a translation of Aristotle's Ethics.[10]
  • 1313–1319 – Dante uses vittima for one who suffers violence.[2][4]
  • Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it for those killed in a disaster.[2]
  • Before 1566 – Annibal Caro uses it for a sacrificial animal.[2]
  • 1802 – The sense “one who suffers the consequences of errors or vices” is recorded.[2]
  • 1922 – Vittimismo and vittimista are recorded.[3]
  • 1983 – Vittimizzazione is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. In ancient rites, an animal or person offered and killed as a sacrifice to a god.[4][6][13]
  2. A person who dies or is harmed in a disaster, war or accident, a casualty: L'incendio non ha fatto vittime. Le vittime della strada are the dead of road accidents.[4][6][11]
  3. A victim of deceit, violence or abuse: È stato vittima di una truffa telefonica.[4][6][7][1]
  4. Someone who suffers the effects of their own failings: è vittima della sua ambizione.[4][6][11]

Word family

  • vittimismo
  • vittimista
  • vittimistico
  • vittimizzare
  • vittimizzazione

Usage notes

Vittima is feminine whatever the sex of the person: lui è la vittima.[1][6] Fare la vittima means to act as if persecuted or neglected in order to win sympathy.[4][7][14] Mietere vittime, said of an epidemic or famine, means to claim many lives.[4][6]

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 l 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 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. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4073
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  8. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  10. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  11. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET, p. 4, 1875
  13. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli