Italian words from Latin
1281 Italian words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 11).
luce
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…
lui
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *illui, a dative of Latin ille (“that”) that replaced the classical illī, used for every gender. The new masculine took its ending from the relative pronoun cui…
luna
It is inherited from Latin lūna (“moon”). The word is found in every Romance language, and DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance noun from them: French lune, Occitan luna, Catalan lluna, Spanish luna…
lunedì
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…
lungo
It is inherited from Latin longus (“long; distant”), continuing its accusative longum. The word is found across the Romance languages: French long, Occitan lonc, Catalan llong, Old Spanish luengo…
luogo
It is inherited from Latin locus (“place”), from its accusative. The older form Old Italian loco keeps the Latin sounds, while the modern form shows the Tuscan diphthong of a stressed open /ɔ/ in an…
ma
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…
macchina
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin machina (“machine, device, contrivance”). The Latin noun is a very early borrowing of Ancient Greek μαχανά (makhaná, “means, contrivance, machine”), the…
madre
It is inherited from Latin māter (“mother”) (accusative ⟨mātrem⟩). The ⟨d⟩ is unexpected, since Tuscan normally keeps Latin ⟨t⟩ between vowels and before ⟨r⟩, and is usually explained by northern…
maestà
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”)…
maestro
It is inherited from Latin magister (“chief, master; teacher”), continuing the accusative case. The /g/ between vowels was lost before a front vowel, as in dito, and the shorter mastro is a doublet…
maggiore
It is inherited from Latin maior (“greater, older”), the comparative of magnus (“great”). Sabatini–Coletti notes that the ⟨gg⟩, /ddʒ/, is the usual Tuscan outcome of Latin /j/ between vowels. The…
magia
It is borrowed from Late Latin magīa, from Ancient Greek μαγεία (mageía, “the lore of the Persian magi; magic”). The Greek noun is derived from μάγος (mágos, “magus”), a borrowing of Old Persian…
magico
It is borrowed from Latin magicus (“magical”), a learned word, borrowed from Ancient Greek μαγικός (magikós), an adjective formed on μάγος (mágos, “magus, sorcerer”). The Latin adjective was itself…
magnifico
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin magnificus (“splendid; generous; doing great things”), a compound of magnus (“great”) and -ficus (“making, doing”), from the stem of faciō (“to make”)…
mai
It is inherited from Latin magis (“more; rather”). DELI notes that the Latin word was easily cut short at the end of a phrase, and Devoto ties the full form ⟨mai⟩ to magis in final position, as in…
maiale
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…
malato
It is inherited from Late Latin male habitus (“in a bad state”), a phrase of male (“badly”) and habitus, the past participle of habeō (“to have; to hold oneself”). The phrase is found in an anecdote…
male
It is inherited from Latin male (“badly”), the adverb of malus (“bad”). The noun “evil; pain, illness” is the same adverb used as a noun, a change that happened in all Romance languages. Devoto–Oli…
maledetto
It is the past participle of maledire (“to curse”), used as an adjective and a noun, and continues inherited from Latin maledictus (“cursed”), the participle of maledīcō (“to speak ill of; to…
maledizione
It is borrowed from Latin maledictiō (“slander, abuse”), a learned word. The Latin noun is formed from maledīcō (“to speak ill of”) with the suffix -tiō, and so is related to maledire. Its classical…
mamma
It is inherited from Latin mamma (“mother; breast”), a word of children's speech that meant both “breast” and “mother”. DELI points to the universal equation of the two meanings that Roman Jakobson…
manco
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…
mandare
It is inherited from Latin mandō (“to entrust; to commission, order”). The Latin verb is usually analysed as a contraction of *man(um) dare, equivalent to the phrase in manum dare (“to put into…
mandato
It is a learned word of the law and administration, borrowed from Latin mandātum (“charge, commission, order”), the neuter past participle of mandō (“to entrust; to order”) used as a noun. The Latin…
mano
It is inherited from Latin manus (“hand”), from the accusative ⟨manum⟩. The word lives on in every Romance language, as French main, Occitan man, Catalan mà, Spanish mano, Portuguese mão, Sardinian…
mantenere
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *manūtenēre (“to keep, support”), from a phrase meaning “to hold with the hand”, from the ablative of Latin manus (“hand”) and teneō (“to hold”). Nocentini glosses…
mappa
It is borrowed from Latin mappa (“napkin, cloth”). Quintilian already called the Latin word Punic, and DELI and GRADIT class it as pre-Indo-European. Wiktionary suggests a Phoenician source meaning…
mare
It is inherited from Latin mare (“sea”), from Proto-Italic *mari, from Proto-Indo-European *móri (“sea, lake”). The word is panromance: French mer, Occitan mar, Catalan mar, Spanish mar, Portuguese…
marina
It is from Italian marino (“of the sea”): the feminine of the adjective, used as a noun. The adjective is inherited from Latin marīnus (“of the sea”), from mare (“sea”). The same noun is Occitan…
marito
It is inherited from Latin marītus (“married; husband”). DELI calls it a learned word, but Nocentini and Meyer-Lübke treat it as inherited. In Latin it was first an adjective of farming: trees were…
maschera
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…
maschio
It is inherited from Late Latin masclus, the contracted form of Latin masculus (“male”). DELI and Nocentini give the source as masculus, an adjective that later became a noun. It is a diminutive of…
massimo
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin maximus (“greatest”), the superlative of magnus (“great”). Pre-classical Latin wrote it “maxumus”. The word did not survive in popular speech in Italy; Old…
materiale
It is borrowed from Late Latin māteriālis (“of matter, material”), a learned word recorded in Latin in Macrobius. The Latin adjective is formed from māteria (“matter; timber”) with the suffix -ālis…
matrimonio
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…
mattina
It is inherited from Latin (hōra) mātūtīna (“the morning hour”), the feminine of the adjective “of the morning” used as a noun, with hōra (“hour”) understood. The masculine mattino continues…
mattino
It is inherited from Latin mātūtīnum (“early morning”), short for mātūtīnum tempus (“morning time”), the neuter of the adjective mātūtīnus (“of the morning”). The adjective is formed from Mātūta…
matto
It is inherited from Late Latin mattus, but the history of that word is disputed. Most dictionaries connect it with the colloquial matus (“drunk”) of Petronius (“plane mattus sum”, “I am thoroughly…
me
It is inherited from Latin mē (“me”), the accusative and ablative of Latin ego (“I”). The word is panromance: French moi, Romansh mai, Occitan me, Catalan me, Sardinian me and Romanian mine continue…
medicina
It is borrowed from Latin medicīna (“the art of healing; a remedy”), a learned word. The Latin noun is short for a phrase with ars (“art”), “the doctor's art”, and is the feminine of the adjective…
medico
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin medicus (“physician; healing”), from medeor (“to heal, cure”). Wiktionary takes it as inherited, but Körting and Meyer-Lübke count the Italian form as…
meglio
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…
membro
It is borrowed from Latin membrum (“limb, part of the body”). DELI, GDLI and Zingarelli call it a learned word; Nocentini lists it as a Latin word of Indo-European origin. The Latin word lives on in…
memoria
It is borrowed from Latin memoria (“memory; remembrance”), a learned word, formed in Latin from memor (“mindful, remembering”) with the suffix -ia. DEI notes that the word is found in all Italian…
meno
It is inherited from Latin minus (“less”), the neuter of minor (“smaller”) used as an adverb. The adjective serves as the comparative of parvus (“small”). The same word is French moins, Occitan…
mente
It is inherited from Latin mentem (“mind”), the accusative of the Latin noun. DELI and DEI call it a learned word, while Nocentini counts it among the inherited words: it is pan-Romance, with…
mentire
It is borrowed from Latin mentior (“to lie; to invent”), used in Late Latin in the active form mentīre. DELI and DEI call it a learned word, and DEI notes that spoken Italian and the dialects prefer…
mentre
It is inherited from Old Italian domentre without its first syllable, inherited from Latin dum interim (“while meanwhile”), a phrase of dum (“while”) and interim (“in the meantime”). The unstressed…
meraviglioso
It is from Italian meraviglia + -oso, from the noun meaning “wonder”. GRADIT and the GDLI compare Old French merveillos and Old Occitan merveillos, recorded from 1080, and modern French merveilleux…
mercato
It is inherited from Latin mercātus (“trade; market, fair”), an action noun from mercor (“to trade, to buy”), itself from merx (“goods, merchandise”). The same word is French marché, Occitan mercat…
merda
It is inherited from Latin merda (“dung, excrement”). DELI and GDLI call it a learned word, but it is found throughout the Romance languages: French merde, Occitan merda, Catalan merda, Spanish…
meritare
It is borrowed from Latin meritō (“to earn; to serve for pay”), a learned word according to DEI and the GDLI. The Latin verb is an intensive formed on meritus, the past participle of mereō (“to…
merito
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin meritum (“reward; service; merit”), the noun use of the neuter of meritus (“earned, deserved”), the past participle of mereō (“to earn, deserve”). The Latin…
mese
It is inherited from Latin mēnsis (“month”), from the accusative ⟨mensem⟩. The word is found in all the Romance languages: French mois, Occitan mes, Catalan mes, Spanish mes, Portuguese mês…
messa
1. The Mass is inherited from Late Latin missa, recorded in 385 in a letter of Saint Ambrose: “missam facere coepi” (“I began to celebrate Mass”). The same word is French messe and Occitan mesa…
meta
1. The goal or destination is borrowed from Latin mēta (“cone-shaped object; turning post in the circus”), a learned word. In Rome the word named the conical posts at the ends of the circus around…
metà
It is inherited from Latin medietās (“the middle; half”), from the accusative medietātem, with the middle syllable dropped and the ending ⟨-tem⟩ lost. The Latin noun was formed on medius (“middle”)…
metro
1. The metre of verse is a learned word, borrowed from Latin metrum, from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure”), of Indo-European origin. Nocentini derives the Greek word from the root…
mettere
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…