Italian words first recorded in the 12th century

It is the past participle of gelare “to freeze”, used as an adjective and, from the end of the 18th century, as a noun. The participle continues inherited from Latin gelātus (“frozen”), from gelō…

It is inherited from Latin iuvenis (“young; young person”), through a spoken form Vulgar Latin *iovenis with /o/ in the first syllable. The unstressed vowel after the stress opened to /a/, as usual…

It continues inherited from Latin iūdicō (“to judge, pass judgement”), from iūdex (“judge”). GDLI calls it a semi-learned word. Like the noun, the verb is analysed as iūs (“law”) and dīcō (“to…

It is inherited from Latin gula (“throat, gullet; gluttony”), a word that already had the figurative sense “gluttony” in Latin, as early as Sallust. The same word is French gueule (“mouth, face”)…

It is inherited from Latin gubernum (“steering oar, rudder”), from gubernō (“to steer; to govern”). The Latin verb was borrowed from Ancient Greek κυβερνάω (kubernáō, “to steer”), a word of obscure…

1. The word for pleasure is inherited from Latin grātum (“something pleasing”), the neuter of grātus (“welcome, pleasing; grateful”) used as a noun, which also gave the learned grato. The ⟨d⟩ for…

It is probably borrowed from Old French guarir, from Frankish *warjan (“to protect, ward off”). DELI and Zingarelli only give a Germanic source of the same form, meaning “to protect, keep away” and…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin idea (“idea, Platonic form”), from Ancient Greek ἰδέα (idéa, “appearance, form”). The Greek noun is formed from the root of ἰδεῖν (ideîn, “to see”), the…

It is a noun formed from the verb improntare “to imprint”. That verb is a variant of the older Old Italian imprentare, changed by association with pronto. DELI derives “imprentare” from French…

It is borrowed from Latin incendium (“fire, conflagration”), a learned word. The Latin noun comes from incendō (“to set on fire, burn”), a compound of the intensive prefix in- and a verb related to…

It continues inherited from Vulgar Latin *indivināre, made from Latin dīvīnāre (“to foretell, prophesy”) with the prefix in-. The Latin verb is a derivative of dīvīnus (“divine; prophetic”). GRADIT…

It is a deverbal noun of indovinare (“to divine, guess”). DEI and Treccani explain it instead as from Latin dīvīnus (“soothsayer, prophet”) remade on the Italian verb, and Devoto as a crossing of…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Late Latin infernum (“hell”), the noun use of Latin infernus (“lower, underground”). The Latin adjective is formed from inferus (“lying below”) on the model of…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin initium (“beginning, (plural) mysteries”). The Latin noun is formed on ineō (“to go into, enter; to begin”), from in- (“in”) and eō (“to go”). Its…

It is inherited from Late Latin īnsignō (“to imprint signs”), a verb of the Latin glosses, formed with an intensive in- from signō (“to mark; to show, explain”), in the sense “to show, explain” that…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *insemel, a blend of Latin īnsimul (“at the same time, together”) and semel (“once”). īnsimul is found in Statius in the 1st century, and is simul (“at the same…

It is borrowed from Latin invītō (“to entertain, receive; to invite”), a learned word. The popular descendants of the Latin verb mean “to challenge, to bid in a game”: Old French envier, Old Occitan…

It is inherited from Latin latro (“highwayman, robber”), continued in the nominative (or, as Bonfante held, the vocative) form, not in the accusative, which gave the doublet ladrone. The voiced /d/…

It is inherited from Old Italian laco, inherited from Latin lacus (“lake; basin, tank”), from the accusative lacum. The voiced /ɡ/ of the modern word in place of /k/ is a northern development, as in…

It is from Italian là (“there”) + su (“up”); the oldest texts spell it “la su”. The archaic form “lassuso” is built in the same way on suso, the older form of su. The double /ss/ reflects the…

It is inherited from Latin lavō (“to wash”). The verb is found in all the Romance languages: French laver, Occitan lavar, Catalan lavar, Spanish lavar, Portuguese lavar and Romanian la. The DÉRom…

It is inherited from Latin labōrō (“to toil, labour; to till”). The Latin verb is formed on labor (“toil, work”). In the western Romance languages the inherited verb mostly means “to plough”…

DELI, Nocentini and GRADIT take it as inherited from Latin labor (“toil, effort, work”), from the accusative ⟨labōrem⟩, with a change of declension. DEI, Devoto, Devoto–Oli, Sabatini–Coletti…

It is inherited from Latin lēx (“law”), from the accusative ⟨lēgem⟩, with the doubled ⟨gg⟩ that is regular in Tuscan before a front vowel. The word is common to the Romance languages: French loi…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin līber (“free”). In Rome the word named a man free by birth, as opposed to a slave and to a freedman. The Latin adjective also had a few popular outcomes…

It is borrowed from Latin lībertās (“freedom; the condition of a free man”), a learned word taken from Latin. The Latin noun was formed from līber (“free”) with the suffix -tās. Italian took it from…

It is inherited from Latin lux (“light; daylight, day”), from the accusative ⟨lūcem⟩. The GDLI calls it a learned word, but DELI, Nocentini and Wiktionary treat it as inherited. The same Latin word…

It is inherited from Latin Lūnae diēs (“day of the Moon”), made of lūna (“moon”) and diēs (“day”). The name comes from astrology: the Moon was thought to rule the first hour of the day. The names of…

It is inherited from Latin magis (“more; rather”). It went through an older form Old Italian mai, recorded in early texts, which lost its last vowel; DELI ties the loss to the general dislike of…

It is borrowed from Latin maiestās (“greatness, dignity, sovereignty”), a learned word. The Latin noun is built on maior (“greater”), as honestās (“honour, respectability”) is on honor (“honour”)…

It is borrowed from Latin maiālis (“castrated boar”). DELI and the GDLI call it a learned word, beside the popular form Old Italian mazale; Nocentini suggests that the ⟨i⟩ between vowels was kept…

It is inherited from Latin mancus (“maimed, crippled; defective”). The Latin adjective first meant “maimed in the hand”: Nocentini, the OLD and Devoto derive it from manus (“hand”) with the suffix…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin mātrimōnium (“marriage”), formed from māter (“mother”) on the model of patrimōnium (“patrimony”). The Latin word first meant the legal motherhood a woman…

It is inherited from Latin melius (“better”), the neuter of melior (“better”), which also gave migliore. DELI and the GDLI call it a learned word, while Nocentini and DEI simply derive it from the…

It is inherited from Latin mittō (“to send; to let go”). The Latin verb already moved from “send” to “put” in Late Latin: the Vulgate uses it in Luke 5:37 for putting new wine into old wineskins…

1. The mile is a singular formed from Italian miglia, the plural, which continues Latin mīlia (“thousands”), the plural of the numeral for “thousand”, in the phrase mīlia passuum (“a thousand…

It is inherited from Late Latin minācia (“threat”), a singular formed late; classical Latin used only the plural minaciae, found in Plautus. The noun was formed from the adjective mināx…

1. The adjective is inherited from Latin mundus (“clean, neat; elegant”). DELI calls it a learned word. The Latin adjective also survives in Old French mont, Old Occitan mon, Spanish mondo…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *mortus, for classical Latin mortuus (“dead”), the participle of morior (“to die”). The word is found in every Romance language: French mort, Occitan mort, Catalan…

It is from Italian muovere + -mento, perhaps partly modelled on Medieval Latin mōvimentum. Compare French mouvement. The verb continues Latin moveō (“to move”), which passed into another conjugation…

It is inherited from Late Latin inabscondere, a compound of in- and Latin abscondō (“to put away, conceal”), with the loss of the first vowel. DELI and Nocentini describe it instead as the older Old…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin necessārius (“unavoidable; indispensable”), from necesse (“unavoidable, necessary”). The Latin adjective goes back to a noun *necessis, made of ne- (“not”)…

It is inherited from Latin inimīcus (“unfriendly; enemy”), with the loss of the first syllable. The Latin word is a compound of the negative prefix in- and amīcus (“friend”), with the regular Latin…

It is inherited from Latin nix (“snow”), from the accusative nivem. The same word is Old French noif (modern French neige, from the verb neiger), Occitan neu, Catalan neu, Spanish nieve, Portuguese…

The origin is disputed. DELI, GRADIT, DEI, Prati, Devoto and Gabrielli derive it from a Medieval Latin phrase of the philosophers, Medieval Latin nec entem (“not even a being, not even a thing”)…

It is inherited from Latin nōmen (“name”). The word is panromance: French nom, Occitan nom, Catalan nom, Spanish nombre, Portuguese nome, Sardinian lùmene and Romanian nume. DELI classes it with its…

It is borrowed from Latin nota (“mark, sign; character; musical note”), a learned word. Italian took over with it the derivatives notabile, notaio (from Latin notārius (“stenographer, secretary”))…

It is borrowed from Latin occāsiō (“a favourable moment, opportunity”), a learned word. The Latin noun is formed from the supine occāsum of occidō (“to fall down; to set”), from ob- (“before”) and…

It is borrowed from Latin odor (“smell, scent; stench”), from the accusative “odōrem”. Nocentini counts it as a learned borrowing, while Spanish olor continues the spoken variant Latin olor…

It is inherited from Latin umbra (“shadow, shade”). The word is found in almost all the Romance languages: French ombre, Occitan ombra, Catalan ombra, Sardinian umbra and Romanian umbră, while…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin homicīdium (“homicide”), from homicīda (“man-slayer”). The Latin noun is a compound of homō (“man, human being”) and -cīdium (“killing”), from the stem of…

It is borrowed from Latin honestus (“honourable, respectable”), a learned word. The Latin adjective is derived from honōs (“honour, esteem”), the older form of honor (see onore). The OLD and DEI…

It is inherited from Latin opera (“work, effort; a day's work; day labourer”), originally the plural of the neuter opus (“work”), taken as a feminine singular as early as Plautus. DELI explains the…

It is inherited from Latin patrōnus (“protector, patron”), a derivative of pater (“father”). In Rome the patron was the powerful man in relation to those he protected: the former master of freed…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pariculus (“of the same kind, similar”), a diminutive of Latin pār (“equal”). The Latin adjective is recorded in the Lex Salica. The Italian word moved from…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *parabolāre, a verb formed from Late Latin parabola (“word”). The verb is attested in Medieval Latin parabolāre from the 9th century, and Nocentini finds it with…

It is from Italian partire + -ita, the feminine past participle of the verb in its first sense, “to divide”, used as a noun. The verb continues Latin partīre (“to divide, share out”), from pars…

It is from Italian partire + -ito: the past participle of the verb in its first sense “to divide”, used as an adjective and then as a noun. Treccani explains the noun as properly “what is divided, a…

It is borrowed from Latin pactum (“agreement, covenant”), which DELI treats as a learned word. The Latin noun is the past participle, used as a noun, of pacīscor (“to make an agreement”), and shares…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin patiēns (“enduring, patient”), the present participle of patior (“to suffer, endure”). The same participle is French patient, recorded in 1120, and Spanish…