Italian words from Latin
1037 Italian words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 5).
decidere
It is borrowed from Latin dēcīdō (“to cut off; to settle”), a learned word. The Latin verb is formed from dē- (“away from”) and caedō (“to cut”), with the regular change of “-ae-” to “-ī-” in a…
decisione
It is borrowed from Latin dēcīsiō (“a settlement, decision”), from dēcīdō (“to cut off; to settle”), a compound of dē- and caedō (“to cut”). The Latin noun is in Cicero. It is a learned word, as are…
denaro
It is inherited from Latin dēnārius (“a coin worth ten asses”), short for a phrase meaning “coin of ten”, from dēnī (“ten each, ten at a time”), the distributive of decem (“ten”). Wiktionary takes…
dente
It is inherited from Latin dēns (“tooth”), continued through its accusative. The word is found in every Romance language: French dent, Occitan dent, Catalan dent, Spanish diente, Portuguese dente…
dentro
It is inherited from Late Latin deintro (“inside”), a compound of dē (“from”) and intrō (“inside, within”). DEI notes that the compound is recorded from the 4th century, as the opposite of deforis…
desiderare
It is borrowed from Latin dēsīderō (“to long for; to miss, feel the lack of”), a learned word. The verb belongs with sīdus (“star, constellation”). DELI, GRADIT, Devoto–Oli and GDLI give the…
desiderio
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin dēsīderium (“longing, desire”), from dēsīderō (“to long for, miss”). Wiktionary describes it as the older desidero reshaped after the Latin. The inherited…
destra
The noun is the feminine of destro used as a noun: inherited from Latin dextera (“right hand”), short for “right hand” with manus (“hand”) understood. Zingarelli calls it a learned word. The LEI…
di
It is inherited from Latin dē (“from, down from; about”), with the unstressed ⟨e⟩ raised to ⟨i⟩ because the word leans on the one that follows. The Italian form already appears in a Medieval Latin…
diavolo
It is borrowed from Late Latin diabolus (“devil”), the word of Christian Latin. DELI, Nocentini and GDLI call it semi-learned: it has been in use without a break, but its form was kept close to the…
dieci
It is inherited from Latin decem (“ten”). The stressed /ɛ/ became the Tuscan diphthong ⟨ie⟩, and the final ⟨-i⟩, in place of the ⟨-e⟩ of the older Old Italian diece, comes from the series undici…
dietro
It is inherited from Late Latin dē retrō (“behind”), a Late Latin phrase recorded in the Itala, the old Latin translation of the Bible, formed from dē (“from”) and retrō (“backwards, behind”). The…
difesa
It is inherited from Late Latin dēfēnsa (“defence”), a word Tertullian uses in place of classical Latin dēfēnsiō. The Late Latin noun was formed on dēfēnsus, the past participle of dēfendō (“to ward…
differenza
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin differentia (“difference”). The Latin noun is formed on differēns (“different”), the present participle of differō (“to carry apart; to differ”), which…
difficile
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin difficilis (“difficult; hard to deal with, surly”), formed from facilis (“easy”) with the negative prefix dis-. The vowel /a/ of the base became /i/ in the…
dimenticare
It is inherited from Late Latin dēmenticāre (“to go out of one's mind”), a verb of the Latin glosses. DELI and Devoto derive it from dēmenticus (“out of one's mind”), made of dē- and Latin mēns…
dimostrare
It is inherited from Latin dēmōnstrō (“to point out, show; to prove”), from mōnstrō (“to show”) with the prefix dē-. Nocentini derives the simple verb from mōnstrum (“sign; portent”), the source of…
dio
It is inherited from Latin deus (“god”). The Italian form is explained by the reduction of a triphthong, as in mio and io. The word is panromance: French dieu, Occitan dieu, Catalan déu, Spanish…
dipendere
According to DELI, GRADIT and Wiktionary it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *depĕndere, which took the place of Latin dēpendeō (“to hang down from; to depend on”) by a change of conjugation. The…
dire
It is inherited from Latin dīcō (“to say”), from the infinitive ⟨dīcere⟩ shortened to two syllables; the full form survives in Old Italian dicere. The LEI supposes that a short infinitive circulated…
diretto
It is borrowed from Latin dīrēctus (“straight; directed”), a learned word, the past participle of dīrigō (“to align, direct”). Latin also had dērēctus, and the LEI notes that the senses “straight”…
direttore
It is a learned word, borrowed from Late Latin dīrēctor (“one who directs”), from dīrēctus (“straight; directed”), the past participle of dīrigō (“to set in a straight line; to direct”). DELI thinks…
direzione
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…
diritto
1. The adjective is inherited from Vulgar Latin *dīrīctus, a spoken form of Latin dīrēctus (“laid out in a straight line”), the past participle of dīrigō (“to direct, set straight”), from dis- and…
discorso
It is borrowed from Late Latin discursus (“a running to and fro”), a noun from discurrō (“to run about”), which is dis- and currō (“to run”). DEI calls it a semi-learned word and notes that in later…
discutere
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…
dispiacere
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *displacēre, which replaced classical Latin displiceō (“to displease”): the spoken language rebuilt the verb from dis- and placeō (“to please”), restoring the vowel…
distanza
It is a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin distantia (“distance; difference”), formed from distāns, the present participle of distō (“to stand apart, be distant”), with the suffix -ia. DEI and…
distruggere
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *destrugere, inherited from Latin dēstruō (“to pull down, demolish”), a compound of dē- and struō (“to pile up, build”). The new infinitive was formed from the…
dito
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *ditus, a spoken form of Latin digitus (“finger, toe”). The LEI posits the shortened form already for Late Latin, and Devoto explains it by the loss of the /g/…
diventare
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *dēventāre, an intensive or iterative verb formed on Latin dēveniō (“to come down, arrive”). The Vulgar Latin verb is not recorded: the LEI reconstructs it from…
diverso
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin dīversus (“turned in another direction; different, opposite”), the past participle of dīvertō (“to turn aside, go different ways”). That verb is formed with…
divertente
It is the present participle of divertire “to amuse”, used as an adjective. The verb is a learned word, borrowed from Latin dīvertō (“to turn aside, go different ways”), made from vertō (“to turn”)…
divertire
It is borrowed from Latin dīvertere (“to turn aside, go another way”), from vertō (“to turn”) with the prefix dis-, and it moved from the conjugation in ⟨-ere⟩ to that in ⟨-ire⟩; the older form…
documento
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin documentum (“lesson, example; proof”), from doceō (“to teach”) with the suffix -mentum: properly “that which serves to teach”. De Vaan traces the Latin verb…
dolce
It is inherited from Latin dulcis (“sweet”). The word is pan-Romance: Romanian dulce, French doux, Occitan dous, Catalan dolç, Old Spanish duz (now Spanish dulce) and Portuguese doce. The origin of…
dolore
It is inherited from Latin dolor (“pain, grief”) (accusative “dolōrem”), from doleō (“to hurt, feel pain”) and the suffix -or. DELI classes it as a learned word, while Nocentini and DEI treat it as…
domani
It is inherited from Late Latin dē māne (“in the morning”), a phrase of dē (“from”) and māne (“morning; early”). The Latin phrase was censured by grammarians: Servius wrote that one should not say…
don
It is inherited from Old Italian donno (“lord, master”), shortened in front of a proper name. The Old Italian word is inherited from Late Latin domnus, the syncopated form of Latin dominus (“master…
donna
It is inherited from Late Latin domna, the syncopated form of Latin domina (“lady, mistress of the house”), the feminine of dominus (“master”), from domus (“house”). The short form is already found…
dopo
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin dē post (“from after”), from Latin dē (“from”) and post (“after, behind”). The older Italian forms were ⟨dopoi⟩ and ⟨dipoi⟩; the ⟨-e-⟩ became ⟨-o-⟩ before the…
doppio
It is inherited from Latin duplus (“double, twice as much”), formed from duo (“two”) and the suffix -plus of such adjectives. Sabatini–Coletti calls it the popular form beside the learned doublet…
dormire
It is inherited from Latin dormīre (“to sleep”). The verb lives on in every Romance language, as French dormir, Occitan dormir, Catalan dormir, Spanish dormir, Portuguese dormir, Sardinian dormire…
dottore
It is borrowed from Latin doctor (“teacher, instructor”), from the accusative ⟨doctōrem⟩, a learned word. Wiktionary treats it as inherited. The noun is formed from Latin doceō (“to teach”) + -tor…
dove
It is inherited from Latin dē (“from”) and ubi (“where”), the phrase ⟨dē ubi⟩ “from where”, which took the place of the simple adverb. The simple Latin word survives as literary ove. Wiktionary…
dovere
It is inherited from Latin dēbeō (“to owe; to be under an obligation”), contracted from an older “*dē-habeō”, a compound of dē- (“away from”) and habeō (“to have, hold”), the source of avere. The…
dubbio
It is a learned word: the adjective is borrowed from Latin dubius (“wavering, uncertain”), and the noun is dubium (“doubt”), the neuter of the adjective used as a noun. The doubled ⟨bb⟩ is the…
due
It is inherited from Latin duo (“two”). GRADIT and Wiktionary take it from the feminine duae, while DEI and Devoto start from the masculine Late Latin dui of later Latin that replaced classical…
dunque
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *dunquam, a blend of Late Latin dunc (“then”) with Latin unquam (“ever”). The Late Latin adverb, found in inscriptions of the imperial period, is itself explained…
duro
It is inherited from Latin dūrus (“hard, solid; harsh”). The word is pan-Romance, found also in Dalmatian and Sardinian but not in Romanian: French dur, Occitan dur, Catalan dur, Spanish duro…
e
It is inherited from Latin et (“and; also”). The same conjunction is French et, Occitan e, Catalan i, Spanish y, Portuguese e and Sardinian e. The variant ed keeps the Latin final consonant before a…
ebreo
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin hebraeus, from Ancient Greek Ἑβραῖος (Hebraîos). The Greek word comes from Aramaic עִבְרַי (ʿiḇray), the Aramaic form of Biblical Hebrew עִבְרִי (ʿiḇrī…
ecco
It is inherited from Latin eccum (“here he is!”), the colloquial form beside ecce (“behold”). The OLD analyses it as the particle and probably a pronoun ⟨*hum⟩ for ⟨hunc⟩, Wiktionary as the particle…
edificio
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin aedificium (“building”), from aedificō (“to build”) with the suffix -ium. The verb is formed aedēs (“house; temple”) and the stem of faciō (“to make”). The…
effetto
It is borrowed from Latin effectus (“execution, accomplishment”), a learned word, the action noun of efficiō (“to bring about, accomplish”), from ex- and faciō (“to make, do”). The Latin word has…
energia
It is a learned word, borrowed from Late Latin energīa, a word Jerome uses, from Ancient Greek ἐνέργεια (enérgeia, “activity, force in action”). The Greek noun is formed from ἐνεργής (energḗs…
enorme
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…
entrambi
It continues the phrase inherited from Latin inter ambōs (“between both”). The phrase is made of Latin inter (“between”) and ambō (“both”). DEI and GDLI note that it survives in Italian, Occitan…
entrare
It is inherited from Latin intrō (“to go into”), from intrā (“inside, within”). The Latin verb is panromance: French entrer, Occitan entrar, Catalan entrar, Spanish entrar, Portuguese entrar…
entro
It is inherited from Latin intrō (“inside, to the inside”). The TLIO adds the influence of inter (“between”). Romanian întru is the same word, and REW also cites Old Spanish entro (“until”). The…