Italian words first recorded in the 14th century

It is borrowed from Latin silentium (“silence”), a learned word. The Latin noun is formed from silēns (“silent”), the present participle of sileō (“to be silent”). De Vaan derives the verb from an…

The origin is unknown: DELI finds none of the proposals convincing, and GRADIT, Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti call the word uncertain. Giovanni Alessio (1946) derived it from an earlier…

It is inherited from Latin temptō (“to touch, to feel; to test; to attack”), in its late and popular form without /p/. DELI, Sabatini–Coletti and GDLI explain that form by confusion with tentō (“to…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin trānsfōrmō (“to change in shape”), from fōrma (“form, shape”) with the prefix trāns- (“across, beyond”), which expresses the change. Nocentini analyses it…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin ūnicus (“one and only; singular, unparalleled”), from ūnus (“one”) with the adjective suffix -icus. Prati notes that it came into Italian through literature…

It is borrowed from Latin ūnīre (“to unite”), a verb derived from ūnus (“one”). Nocentini classes it as a learned borrowing, DEI as semi-learned, and Prati says it came by the literary route. The…

1. The vine is inherited from Latin vītis (“vine; tendril; climbing plant”), continued from the accusative ⟨vītem⟩. The word is panromance: Old Occitan vid, Spanish vid, Portuguese vide, Sardinian…

It is borrowed from Latin zōna (“belt, girdle”), from Ancient Greek ζώνη (zṓnē, “belt, girdle”). The Greek word comes from the root of ζώννυμι (zṓnnumi, “to gird”). It is a learned word. From “belt”…

It is from Italian pazzo (“mad”) + -esco. The origin of pazzo itself is uncertain. Older proposals derived it from Latin patiēns (“suffering”) or from pupazzo; Nocentini favours Vulgar Latin…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin adultus (“grown up, fully grown”), the past participle of adolēscō (“to grow up”). The Latin verb is an inchoative formed with ad- on alō (“to nourish”)…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin crēditum (“something entrusted; a loan”), the neuter past participle of crēdō (“to trust, entrust; to believe”), used as a noun. Prati notes that it came in…

According to Nocentini, GRADIT and Devoto–Oli it is borrowed from Latin dēclārātiō (“a making known, announcement”). The LEI and the TLIO see the Italian form as a new formation from the verb…

It is borrowed from Latin dīrēctiō (“a straightening; direction”), a learned word: the noun of action of dīrigō (“to direct”), formed on its participle dīrēctus. The word exists elsewhere in Romance…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin discutiō (“to shake apart, disperse”), formed from dis- (“apart”) and quatiō (“to shake”). In Late and Christian Latin the verb came to mean “to examine…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin ēnormis (“irregular; immense”), properly “out of the rule”, from norma (“carpenter's square; rule”) with the prefix ex- (“out of”). Devoto takes it from a…

It is formed from Italian fattore (“steward, farm manager”) + -ia. Fattore is a learned word, from Latin factor (“maker, doer”), from faciō (“to make, do”). Nocentini notes that the Latin word…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *focīlis, short for a phrase meaning “fire stone”, with Latin petra (“stone”) understood. Nocentini supplies aciārium (“steel”) as the noun instead, so that the…

It is borrowed from Late Latin prōtectiō (“protection, shelter”), a learned word. The Latin noun is formed on prōtēctus, the past participle of prōtegō (“to cover in front; protect”), with the…

The origin is uncertain, and the dictionaries weigh several proposals. Nocentini and the LEI follow Angelo Prati, who took it as from Old Italian cazza (“ladle, scoop”) turned masculine and used as…

The origin is uncertain. DELI calls it a word of unknown origin, but thinks worth further study the proposal that it is borrowed from Arabic غارة (ġāra, “raid, foray”), which entered Spanish with…

It is inherited from Latin nātus (“born; son”), the past participle of nāscor (“to be born”). The Latin word had an older form gnātus, which shows its link with gignō (“to beget”), so that it first…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin praecīsus (“cut off; abrupt; shortened”), the past participle of praecīdō (“to cut off, to cut short”). The Latin verb is a compound of prae- (“before, in…

It is the past participle of rubare “to steal”, used as an adjective and a noun. The verb, older Old Italian robare (before 1294, Guittone d'Arezzo), comes from Proto-West Germanic *raubōn (“to…

It is a shortened past participle of scemare (“to diminish”), without the ending ⟨-ato⟩. Nocentini and Devoto–Oli explain the sense “stupid” as figurative: one who is lacking. The verb comes from…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin spatium (“room, extent; interval”). The same Latin noun was inherited as Old Italian spazzo (“floor”), a doublet, from which the verb spazzare “to sweep”…

It is from Italian tra- + tenere. DELI notes that the prefix is felt sometimes as a sense of movement, sometimes as a substitute for intra- “between”, as in intrattenere; the TLIO likewise derives…

It is borrowed from Latin vīsiō (“sight; appearance, vision”), a learned word. The Latin noun was formed on vīsus, the past participle of videō (“to see”). DELI and DEI note that Latin philosophical…

Its origin is disputed. It is most often explained as inherited from Latin barbarus (“foreign; wild”), from Ancient Greek βάρβαρος (bárbaros, “foreign, non-Greek”). The LEI derives it from a…

It is from Italian e + pure, the conjunction and the adverb written as one word, with the doubled consonant that follows the conjunction in pronunciation. The adverb pure continues Latin pūrē…

It is borrowed from Latin permittō (“to let go through; to allow, leave to”), from per- and mittō (“to send, let go”). Nocentini classes it as a borrowing from Latin, with the stressed vowel taken…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin polīticus (“of citizens, political”), from Ancient Greek πολιτικός (politikós, “of or concerning citizens; of the state”), the adjective of πολίτης…

It is from Italian prigione (“prison”) + -iero. Wiktionary sees the influence of Old French prisonier, and Sabatini–Coletti and Treccani take the word directly from French prisonnier, which DELI and…

It is an expressive word, a cry made to call someone or to show surprise. Nocentini calls it a Romance onomatopoeia. Tommaseo compared Latin eho, a Latin call to a person, and hei, a cry of pain…

It is inherited from Latin fundus (“bottom; farm, estate”), and both Latin senses live on. The word is found in all the Romance languages: French fond (beside fonds), Occitan fons, Spanish hondo…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *imparāre (“to acquire, take possession of”), a verb of spoken Latin formed with in- on Latin parō (“to prepare; to procure”). The sense “to learn” grew out of “to…

It is from Italian là + giù, the phrase written solid, with the doubling of the consonant that follows a stressed final vowel. Old forms are Old Italian laggiùe and laggiuso, with the older adverb…

It is inherited from Medieval Latin mascara (“spectre, demon”), recorded at the end of the 12th century in Uguccione da Pisa as a gloss on Latin larva (“ghost”). The word is usually connected with…

It is formed from Italian mille + -one, with the augmentative suffix: a “big thousand”. Nocentini takes it as the augmentative of Old Italian milia (“thousand”), from Latin mīlia, the plural of…

It is from Italian né + pure: the phrase was written separately at first and as one word from the 18th century. The doubled consonant comes from the lengthening that the negative causes in the…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin hōrologium (“sundial, water clock”), from Ancient Greek ὡρολόγιον (hōrológion). The Greek word is a compound of ὥρα (hṓra, “hour; season”) and a derivative…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin repetere (“to seek again; to claim back; to repeat”), from petō (“to make for; to ask”) with the prefix re- (“again”). DELI notes that the Latin verb had…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin scaena (“stage, scene”) (also scēna), from Ancient Greek σκηνή (skēnḗ, “tent; stage”). The origin of the Greek word is uncertain; Nocentini thinks it…

It is borrowed from Latin stilus (“stylus for writing”), in the figurative sense “manner of writing”; Nocentini and GRADIT treat it as a variant of stilo specialised in that sense. In Latin the word…

It is inherited from Latin strĭga (“witch; screech owl”), recorded in Petronius, a popular variant of strīx (“screech owl”). The Latin word was taken from Ancient Greek στρίξ (stríx), a bird of the…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin succēdō (“to go under; to follow; to turn out well”), from sub- (“under”) and cēdō (“to go”). The Latin verb meant literally “to come up from below” and so…

Its origin is disputed. DELI gives the most widespread view, that it is borrowed from Frankish *taskā (“bag”), beside Old High German tasca (modern German Tasche), and Devoto–Oli and Treccani say…

1. The touch is formed from toccare (“to touch”). The noun is a deverbal derivative, like French touche from toucher, which DEI dates to the 13th century. The adjective is the short past participle…

It is the feminine past participle of trarre (“to draw, pull”) (tratto), used as a noun. The verb continues inherited from Latin trahō (“to draw, drag”), a verb of obscure origin without sure…

It continues inherited from Latin tractus (“a pulling; a stretch, extent; a course”), an action noun from trahō (“to pull, drag”). The same Latin word gave French trait, Occitan trach and Spanish…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin victima (“sacrificial animal”). The same Latin noun gave French victime, recorded from the 14th century, and Spanish víctima. The origin of the Latin word…

It is from Italian rischio + -are, from the noun rischio “risk”. Nocentini dates it to 1314, DELI to Francesco da Barberino (before 1348). The noun is a word of medieval trade whose origin is…

It is borrowed from Latin circā (“around, about”), a learned word. The Latin adverb and preposition is formed from circus (“circle, ring”), the source of cerchio, with the ending “-ā” on the model…

It is borrowed from Old French formage, the Old French form of modern French fromage. The French word comes from Medieval Latin formaticum, short for a phrase meaning “cheese put in a mould”, from…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *fŭttere, for classical Latin futuō (“to have sex with”). The word is panromance: French foutre, Occitan fotre, Catalan fotre, Spanish joder, Portuguese foder…

It is from Italian battere + -uta, the feminine of battuto, the past participle of battere (“to beat”), used as a noun. The verb continues Latin battuō (“to beat”), in its variant battere, which…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin internus (“inner, internal”), formed on inter (“between, among”). DELI explains the Latin word as built on an unattested *interus, just as infernus…

It is borrowed from Arabic مَخَازِن (maḵāzin, “storehouses”), the plural of مَخْزَن (maḵzan, “storehouse”), from the root of خَزَنَ (ḵazana, “to store”). GRADIT gives the source as a variant form of…

It is the past participle of decidere, used as an adjective. The verb is a learned word, from Latin dēcīdō (“to cut off; to settle”), whose participle is dēcīsus; the Latin verb is made of dē-…

It is borrowed from Latin nervōsus (“sinewy, muscular, vigorous”), from nervus (“sinew, nerve”) with the suffix -ōsus. DEI compares French nerveux, used from the 13th century in the old sense…

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin sexus (“sex, gender”). The same Latin word gave French sexe and Spanish sexo, and it has spread through the European languages. DEI suggests that a popular…