Italian words from Latin
1281 Italian words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 15).
picchiare
1. The verb meaning “to beat” is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pic(c)ulāre (“to tap repeatedly”), according to Nocentini, Devoto–Oli and Devoto: a diminutive or iterative of *pīccāre (“to strike with…
piccolo
Its origin is not certain. Most sources take it as from Vulgar Latin *pikk- (“small”), an expressive, sound-symbolic root for smallness that has no Latin record, with the diminutive suffix -olo…
piede
It is inherited from Latin pēs (“foot”), from the accusative pedem. The stressed short /e/ of Latin became the diphthong /jɛ/. The same word is French pied, Occitan pe, Catalan peu, Spanish pie…
pieno
It is inherited from Latin plēnus (“full”). The word is pan-Romance: French plein, Occitan ple, Catalan ple, Spanish lleno, Portuguese cheio, Sardinian prenu and Romanian plin, and Dalmatian plain…
pietra
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…
pillola
It is borrowed from Latin pilula (“little ball, pellet”), a learned word; the Latin was also spelled pillula, a diminutive of pila (“ball”). Devoto explains the ⟨ll⟩ by crossing with palla. Popular…
pioggia
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *plŏia, from *plovia, which replaced classical Latin pluvia (“rain”). The vowel was taken from plŏvere, a later form of pluō (“to rain”) that is recorded from…
piscina
It is borrowed from Latin piscīna (“fishpond”), from piscis (“fish”). The Latin noun is formed with the suffix -īna and meant a fishpond or tank, then also a bathing pool (Seneca, 1st century). DEI…
pista
It is probably a southern variant of pesta (“footprint, track”), a noun formed from the verb pestare (“to pound, trample”). The verb is inherited from Late Latin pistāre (“to pound”), an intensive…
più
It is inherited from Latin plūs (“more”), the comparative of multus (“much”). The /l/ after /p/ became /j/, as regularly in Italian. Latin already used the word with an adjective in place of a…
pizza
The word is first recorded in Medieval Latin, as from Medieval Latin pizza (“flat cake”) at Gaeta in 997 and at Penne in the Abruzzi in 1195. Further Medieval Latin records come from central and…
poco
It is inherited from Latin paucus (“few, little”), from the accusative ⟨paucum⟩; the Latin adjective was used mostly in the plural, ⟨pauci⟩ “few”. The word is continued across the Romance languages…
poi
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pos, the archaic and popular form of Latin post (“after; behind”). Devoto explains the final ⟨-i⟩ by the regular change of a final vowel plus ⟨s⟩ into a vowel plus…
politica
It is a learned word, borrowed from Late Latin politica, recorded in Apuleius, from Ancient Greek πολιτική (politikḗ) (with τέχνη (tékhnē, “art”) understood), “the art of governing”. The Greek…
politico
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…
polizia
It is a learned word, borrowed from Late Latin polītīa (“political organization, constitution, government”), recorded in the 4th century in Ambrose. The Latin word is from Ancient Greek πολιτεία…
pollo
It is inherited from Latin pullum (“young of an animal; chick”). From the same Latin word come pulcino, pollone and pullulare. The same word is Occitan pol, Catalan poll and Spanish pollo; the…
polvere
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…
ponte
It is inherited from Latin pōns (“bridge”), from the accusative “pontem”. The same word is French pont, Occitan pont, Catalan pont, Spanish puente, Portuguese ponte and Romanian punte, and also…
popolo
It is inherited from Latin populus (“people, body of citizens”). DELI calls the Tuscan form learned and DEI semi-learned, since it keeps the /p/ between vowels, while the Old Italian forms with /v/…
porta
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…
portare
It is inherited from Latin portō (“to carry, convey”). The Latin verb is related to porta (“gate”), whose first sense was “passage”, and to portus (“harbour”): Nocentini and DEI give it the early…
porto
1. The harbour is inherited from Latin portus (“passage, entrance; harbour”), a word of Indo-European origin related to Latin porta (“gate”). The sense “passage” survives in Spanish puerto and…
positivo
It is borrowed from Late Latin positīvus (“laid down, established”), a learned word formed on positus (“placed”), the past participle of pōnō (“to put, place”). The Latin grammarians used it for the…
posizione
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin positio (“placing; situation, position”), formed from positus (“placed”), the past participle of pōnō (“to put, place”). The Latin noun appears in the…
possedere
It is borrowed from Latin possidēre (“to occupy as owner, to possess”), a learned word according to DELI and Nocentini. Wiktionary treats it as inherited. Nocentini counts Old French posseoir and…
possibile
It is borrowed from Latin possibilis, a learned word, from possum (“to be able”) with the suffix -bilis. Nocentini and DEI say that Quintilian coined the adjective in the 1st century AD, together…
possibilità
It is a learned word, borrowed from Late Latin possibilitās (“possibility”), from Latin possibilis (“possible”) (see possibile) with the suffix -tās.
posta
It is inherited from Latin pŏsita (“placed, set”), a form of the past participle of pōnō (“to put, to place”). The sources read the form in two ways: DELI, GRADIT and Sabatini–Coletti take it as a…
posto
It is inherited from Latin positus (“placed, put”), the past participle of pōnō (“to place, put”), through the shortened form postus with the loss of the vowel after the stress. The adjective…
potere
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *potēre, the Vulgar Latin infinitive that replaced classical Latin posse (“to be able”). The new infinitive was formed on the forms of the verb that begin with…
povero
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin pauperum, the popular form of Latin pauper (“poor”) moved into the second declension. The classical adjective had one ending for all genders, and a late form with…
pranzo
It is inherited from Latin prandium (“late-morning or midday meal”), derived from prandeō (“to have one's morning or midday meal”). Its original sense must have been “first meal”. Sardinian pranzu…
precedente
It is the present participle of precedere, formed from Italian precedere + -ente, after Latin praecēdēns. The verb is a learned word, borrowed from Latin praecēdō (“to go before”), from prae- and…
preciso
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…
preferire
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin praeferō (“to carry in front; to prefer”), moved into the Italian conjugation in ⟨-ire⟩ (⟨preferisco⟩). The Latin verb is formed from prae- (“before”) and…
pregare
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *precāre, the active form of Latin precor (“to pray, entreat”), a verb derived from prex (“prayer, request”). The voiced /g/ for Latin /k/ is, Devoto says, a…
prego
Both uses come from pregare (“to pray; to ask”): the noun “prayer” is formed from the verb with no suffix, and the interjection is its first person singular present, “I pray (you)”. The verb…
premio
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin praemium (“booty; profit; reward”). The Latin noun comes from *prai-emion, formed with prae- (“before”) on emō (“to take; to buy”); originally it was the…
prendere
It is inherited from Latin prendere (“to seize, grasp”), the contracted form of prehendere. The word is panromance: French prendre, Occitan penre, Catalan pendre, Spanish prender, Portuguese…
preoccupare
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin praeoccupō (“to occupy beforehand, seize first”), from occupō (“to seize”) with prae- (“before”). Its modern sense “to worry” comes from French préoccuper…
preparare
It is a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin praeparō (“to make ready beforehand”), from prae- (“before”) and parō (“to make ready, provide”). Körting notes that the verb is learned in every…
presentare
It is borrowed from Late Latin praesentō (“to show, present”), recorded from the 2nd century in Apuleius, from Latin praesēns (“present, at hand”). DEI and the GDLI call it a learned word, and DEI…
presente
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-…
presenza
It is borrowed from Latin praesentia (“presence”), a learned word. The Latin noun is formed from praesēns (“present”) with the abstract suffix -ia. French présence and Spanish presencia come from it…
presidente
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin praesidēns (“presiding; governor”), the present participle of praesideō (“to sit in front; to protect, govern”). The verb is formed from prae- (“before”)…
pressione
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin pressiō (“pressure, weight”), a noun of action formed on pressus, the past participle of premō (“to press”). The Latin noun is found in Vitruvius. The same…
prestare
It is inherited from Latin praestāre (“to provide, guarantee; to lend”). DELI lists it among the learned words of the family, together with prestazione and prestito, but Nocentini, DEI and the DÉRom…
prestito
It is borrowed from Late Latin praestitum (“something lent”), the neuter of praestitus, past participle of praestō (“to make available; to guarantee, to lend”). DELI, Zingarelli and the GDLI call it…
presto
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…
prete
It is inherited from Old Italian preite, inherited from Vulgar Latin *previter, the popular outcome of Late Latin presbyter (“elder; priest”), a word of the Christian Church. The Latin word was…
prevedere
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin praevideō (“to foresee”), made of prae- (“before”) and videō (“to see”), and conjugated like Italian vedere. Latin gave the family also previdente, from the…
prezioso
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin pretiōsus (“costly, of great value”), from pretium (“price, value”). The Latin adjective is formed with the suffix -ōsus. Its counterparts are French…
prezzo
It is inherited from Latin pretium (“price, value”). The Latin /tj/ became the voiceless affricate /ts/, the regular Tuscan outcome. The same Latin word gave the doublet pregio, which Körting…
prima
It is inherited from Late Latin prīma, the feminine ablative of Latin prīmus (“first”) used as an adverb. Classical Latin said prīmum or prīmō in this sense; Devoto and Gabrielli think the Late…
primo
It is inherited from Latin prīmus (“first”), the superlative of the old adverb prī (“before”). The Latin word comes from an older ⟨*prīsmos⟩, attested in Paelignian ⟨prismu⟩. Nocentini compares the…
principale
It is borrowed from Latin principālis (“first, chief”), a learned word, from prīnceps (“first; chief”), the source of principe. In Late Latin “principālis” was also a noun, the head of a body of…
principe
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…
privato
It is borrowed from Latin prīvātus (“private, personal; set apart”), the past participle of prīvō (“to deprive; to free”), from prīvus (“one's own, single”). Nocentini explains the Latin word as…
probabilmente
It is from Italian probabile + -mente, the adjective “probable” with the adverb suffix. The adjective is a learned word, borrowed from Latin probābilis (“worthy of approval; plausible”), from probō…