Italian words first recorded in the 12th century

It is inherited from Latin pēius (“worse”), the neuter of peior (“worse”), which served as the comparative of malus (“bad”) and was used in Latin as an adverb. Meyer-Lübke notes that the correct…

It is inherited from Latin pēior (“worse”), the comparative of malus (“bad”). The same word is French pire, Occitan pejer, Catalan pejor and Spanish peor, and with the neuter peius Italian peggio…

It is a back-formation from perdonare (“to forgive”). GDLI compares French pardon, recorded in 1135. The verb is Late Latin perdōnāre (“to grant, to forgive”), Medieval Latin for DELI and GRADIT…

It is from Italian perfetto (“perfect”) + -mente. The adjective is a learned borrowing of Latin perfectus (“completed”), the past participle of perficiō (“to carry through, complete”), from per-…

It is from Italian pesare (“to weigh”) + -ante, the present participle of the verb used as an adjective. Meyer-Lübke lists it among the derivatives of the verb, with the senses “heavy” and…

It is inherited from Latin pĕtra (“rock, stone”), itself borrowed from Ancient Greek πέτρα (pétra, “rock, stone”). The Greek word is of uncertain origin; DEI calls it an Aegean relic word. In Latin…

It is inherited from Latin pulvis (“dust”), from the accusative ⟨pulverem⟩; Latin had the noun as a masculine and more rarely as a feminine. The poetic doublet polve comes from the nominative. The…

It is inherited from Latin porta (“gate, city gate; passage”). The word is common to the Romance languages: French porte, Occitan porta, Catalan porta, Spanish puerta, Portuguese porta, Sardinian…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin praesēns (“present, at hand”), though Wiktionary treats it as inherited. The Latin word is the participle of praesum (“to be at the head of”), from prae-…

The adjective is inherited from Late Latin praestus (“ready”), a Vulgar Latin *praestus formed from the classical adverb Latin praestō (“at hand, available”), used in the phrase ⟨praesto esse⟩ “to…

It is borrowed from Old French prison, recorded in French from 1080, from Latin prehēnsiō (“a seizing, arrest”), from prehendō (“to seize, grasp”). Nocentini derives the Latin noun from the…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin princeps (“first; chief, ruler”), literally “one who takes the first place”, a compound of prīmus (“first”) and the stem of capiō (“to take”). The Latin…

It is inherited from Late Latin promissa (“promise”), originally the neuter plural prōmissa (“things promised”), the past participle used as a noun of prōmittō (“to send forward; to promise”). The…

It is a learned borrowed from Latin proprietās (“peculiarity; ownership”), derived from proprius (“one's own, particular”). The form “proprietà” arose by the loss of the final syllable of the older…

It is inherited from Latin polīre (“to polish, to smooth”). Sabatini–Coletti call it the popular form beside the learned polire. The same verb is French polir, Occitan polir, Catalan polir and…

It is formed from Italian punta + -are, a verb from the noun “point”; GRADIT and Sabatini–Coletti also allow punto as the base. The noun continues Late Latin puncta (“a stab; a point”), the noun use…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin quālitās (“quality, nature”), from the accusative quālitātem, with the final syllable dropped. The Latin noun is formed from quālis (“of what kind”) with…

It is inherited from Latin quandō (“when”), the Latin interrogative adverb and temporal conjunction. The DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance adverb and conjunction ⟨*/ˈkuand-o/⟩, which every Romance…

It is borrowed from Latin quasi (“as if; about, nearly”), which Nocentini classes as a learned borrowing. Wiktionary takes it as inherited: the final /i/ looks learned, but Italian often has /i/ for…

It is inherited from Latin radius (“rod, staff; spoke; ray”), the popular outcome of the word beside the learned radio. Devoto starts from Vulgar Latin *radjus, treated like modius, which gave…

It is borrowed from Latin rapīna (“robbery, plunder”), a learned word. The Latin noun is formed from rapiō (“to seize, carry off”), the source of rapire, with the suffix -īna, as ruīna comes from…

It is borrowed from Latin resistō (“to stop; to stand firm, resist”), a learned word, formed from re- and sistō (“to cause to stand; to stop”). DELI, GRADIT and the GDLI take the prefix as…

It is borrowed from Latin restāre (“to stay behind, remain”), a learned word, formed from Latin re- (“back, again”) + stō (“to stand”). Nocentini lists French rester and Spanish restar beside it…

It is borrowed from Latin recordor (“to call to mind”), a learned word in DELI's view. The Latin verb is derived from cor (“heart”) with the prefix re- “back”: the heart was thought to be the seat…

It is a noun formed from the verb riguardare “to look at again; to concern”, which is from Italian ri- + guardare. The GDLI compares French regard. The verb guardare is a medieval Germanic loan…

It is a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin renūntiō (“to report back; to renounce”). The Latin verb is nūntiō (“to announce”) with the prefix re- and first meant “to announce in reply”; only…

It is borrowed from Latin reportō (“to carry back”), from portō (“to carry”) with the prefix re- (“back”). DELI and the GDLI call it a learned word. In some senses it is a formation from Italian ri-…

It is the feminine of Old Italian risposto, the old past participle of rispondere, used as a noun. DEI describes it as a formation parallel to Latin respōnsum (“answer”), built on the Italian…

It is inherited from Latin retineō (“to hold back; to keep”), a compound of re- (“back”) and teneō (“to hold”). In Latin the verb already meant both “to keep together, contain” and “to keep in…

It is formed from Italian ri- (“again”) + tornare (“to return”), with the prefix of repetition. Nocentini treats French retourner and Spanish retornar as parallel formations made independently in…

1. The break and the defeat are rotto (“broken”), the past participle of rompere (“to break”), in the feminine used as a noun. Other dictionaries trace it directly to Latin rupta, the feminine of…

It is inherited from Latin sabbatum, from Ancient Greek σάββατον (sábbaton), from Biblical Hebrew שַׁבָּת (šabbāṯ, “cessation (from work), rest”). Nocentini and GRADIT add that the Greek singular…

It is inherited from Latin saliō (“to jump, leap”). In Italian the sense moved from leaping to climbing; elsewhere the verb kept “to jump” (Romanian sări) or took other senses: French saillir “to…

It is inherited from Latin scālae (“ladder; stairs”), a plural that classical Latin used with either singular or plural force and that passed to the singular in Late Latin. Quintilian condemned the…

It is a shortened form, from Italian discendere with the loss of its first syllable. The longer verb comes from Latin dēscendō (“to go down”), a compound of dē- and scandō (“to climb”). Nocentini…

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin sclavus (“Slav; slave”). Nocentini takes the Latin word from Byzantine Greek σκλάβος (sklábos, “slave”), drawn from Σκλαβηνός (Sklabēnós, “Slav”), an adaptation of…

It is inherited from Late Latin scōpō (“to sweep”), formed from scōpae (“twigs; broom”). The verb survives across the Romance languages: Sardinian iscobare, Old French escover, Spanish escobar and…

It is inherited from Latin servus (“slave”). The Latin word is panromance: French serf, Occitan ser, Spanish siervo, Portuguese servo, Sardinian servu and Old Romanian ⟨șerb⟩, and DÉRom reconstructs…

It is from Italian sguardare + -o, a noun formed from the verb, which is guardare with the intensive prefix s-. DELI and Treccani instead form it from guardo (“look”) with the same prefix. The…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin similis (“like, resembling”). The popular continuations of the Latin word are found elsewhere: Old Neapolitan semele, Sardinian simele in Logudorese, Old…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin societātem (“fellowship, association; alliance”), in the accusative form whose ending was cut short in Italian. The Latin noun is formed from socius…

It is from Italian solo + -mente, the adverb ending that goes back to the ablative Latin mente (“with a mind”). Wiktionary traces the phrase to Medieval Latin sōlā mente. Devoto argues that the form…

It is inherited from Latin sōlus (“alone, only”); the adverb continues sōlum (“only”), the adverbial neuter of the adjective. In Old Italian, Old French and Old Occitan the adverbial form did not…

It is inherited from Latin suspectō (“to look up at; to suspect”), an intensive of suspiciō (“to look up at; to look at with distrust”). Nocentini adds that it may also be the intensive of suspicor…

It is inherited from Latin spērō (“to hope, look forward to”), a verb formed from the noun spēs (“hope”). The Latin verb lives on in the western Romance languages: French espérer, Occitan esperar…

It is inherited from Latin explicō (“to unfold, unroll; to set out, explain”), from ex- (“out”) and plicō (“to fold”). Nocentini calls it the popular outcome of the Latin verb, beside the learned…

It is formed from the verb squadrare (“to square”) without a suffix. That verb continues inherited from Vulgar Latin *exquadrāre, made of ex- and Latin quadrō (“to make square”), which comes from…

It is inherited from Latin taceō (“to be silent”). The same word is French taire (Old French taisir), Occitan tazer, Romansh taschair, Friulian taze, Dalmatian takar and Romanian tăcea. Northern…

It is inherited from Latin timēre (“to fear”). The same Latin verb is Occitan temer, Catalan tembre, Spanish temer, Portuguese temer, Sardinian timire and Romanian teme. The origin of the Latin verb…

It is inherited from Latin teneō (“to hold; to keep; to possess”). The verb lives on in all Romance languages: French tenir, Occitan tenir, Catalan tenir, Spanish tener, Portuguese ter, Sardinian…

It is inherited from Latin trāditor (“one who hands over”), formed from trādō (“to hand over”) with the agent suffix -tor, and it followed the meaning of tradire. The sense “betrayer” spread in the…

It is inherited from Latin tū (“you (singular)”), the nominative and vocative of the second person singular pronoun. It is panromance: French tu, Occitan tu, Catalan tu, Portuguese tu, Spanish tú…

It is a compound of ⟨tutta⟩, the feminine of tutto “all”, and via “way”. Wiktionary traces it to Latin tōta via (“the whole way; always”). The same expression is Spanish todavía and Portuguese…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin hūmānus (“human; humane”), though some popular forms survive in the dialects. DELI notes that all three senses of the Latin adjective passed into Italian…

It is inherited from Latin ūsus (“use, practice; experience; benefit”), a noun formed on the past participle of ūtor (“to use”). The participle itself, used early as a noun, was the base of a new…

It is borrowed from French avantage (“advantage”), as the older form Old Italian avvantaggio shows; the Italian word lost its first syllable. According to the LEI, quoted by DELI, the points of…

It is inherited from Late Latin vēcīnus, inherited from Latin vīcīnus (“of the same village; neighbour”). The Latin adjective, formed from vīcus (“village, street”), meant “belonging to the same…