Italian words from Latin
1037 Italian words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 6).
episodio
It is a learned word, borrowed from Medieval Latin episodium, from Ancient Greek ἐπεισόδιον (epeisódion, “additional entrance; episode”). The Greek word is the neuter of ἐπεισόδιος (epeisódios…
eroe
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin hērōs (“hero, demigod”), taken from its accusative form. The Latin word is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἥρως (hḗrōs, “hero, deified hero”), whose origin is…
errore
It is borrowed from Latin error (“wandering; mistake”), a learned word, from the verb errō (“to wander; to err”). The Latin noun is continued in every Romance language: Romanian eroare, Friulian…
esame
It is borrowed from Latin exāmen (“tongue of a balance; weighing, examination”), a learned word. The Latin noun first meant the pointer of a pair of scales, and so the act of weighing and testing…
esatto
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin exāctus (“exact, precise”), properly the past participle of exigō (“to drive out; to weigh, measure exactly; to complete”). The Latin verb is formed with…
esempio
It is a learned or semi-learned word, borrowed from Latin exemplum (“sample; model; example”). DEI calls it semi-learned and spread by the medieval schools, and Sabatini–Coletti explains the many…
esercito
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin exercitus. The Latin noun first meant “exercise”, then “military exercise”, and so “the soldiers gathered for the exercise or review”, and at last an army…
esistere
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin exsistō (“to step out, emerge, appear; to exist”). The Latin verb is a compound of ex- (“out”) and sistō (“to stand, stop”), which Nocentini describes as…
esperienza
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin experientia (“trial, test; experience”), taken from the accusative ⟨experientiam⟩. The Latin noun is formed from experiēns, the present participle of…
esperto
It is a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin expertus (“experienced; tested”), the past participle of experior (“to try, test, experience”). As a noun, “an expert”, it is a calque of French…
esplodere
It is a learned borrowed from Latin explōdere (“to drive off by clapping, to hiss off the stage”), a compound of ex- (“out”) and plōdō, an old variant of plaudō (“to clap”). The sense “to burst” was…
essere
It is inherited from Latin sum (“to be”), through the Vulgar Latin infinitive ⟨*essere⟩, which took the place of classical ⟨esse⟩. The infinitive ⟨essere⟩ is already written in Early Medieval Latin…
estate
It continues inherited from Latin aestās (“summer”), from the accusative aestātem. The older Italian forms ⟨state⟩ and ⟨istate⟩ came down by unbroken popular tradition, while ⟨estate⟩ is a learned…
età
It is inherited from Latin aetās (“age, lifetime; period”), from the accusative. The older forms Old Italian etate and Old Italian etade were shortened. DELI treats it as a learned word, but the LEI…
evento
It is a learned borrowed from Latin ēventus (“occurrence, outcome”), derived from ēveniō (“to come out, happen”), a compound of ex (“out of”) and veniō (“to come”). DELI and Zingarelli give the…
evitare
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin ēvītō (“to avoid, shun”). The Latin verb is vītō (“to avoid”) with the prefix ē-, which here only strengthens the meaning. The same Latin word was taken…
ex
It is borrowed from Latin ex (“out of, from”). In Late Latin the preposition became a prefix in phrases whose second word was in the ablative: ex consule meant “out of the consulship”, that is, a…
faccenda
It is inherited from Latin facienda (“things to be done”), the neuter plural of faciendus, the gerundive of faciō (“to do, make”). The neuter plural was taken as a feminine singular, as in…
facile
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin facilis (“easy, feasible; compliant”), formed with -ilis from faciō (“to do, make”). The Latin adjective was both passive, “that can be done”, and active…
fallo
1. The noun for a fault or error is a deverbal noun of fallare (“to err, to sin”), formed without a suffix, like falla. The verb is inherited from Late Latin fallāre, a verb of the glosses that…
falso
It is inherited from Latin falsus (“false, mistaken”), originally the past participle of fallō (“to deceive”). DELI notes that the adjective is the inherited word, while falsare, falsario and…
fame
It is inherited from Latin famēs (“hunger; famine”). In early Latin the noun belonged to the fifth declension and later moved to the third. The same word is French faim, Occitan fam, Catalan fam…
famiglia
It is inherited from Latin familia (“the slaves of a household; household”), from famulus (“servant”). The cluster /lj/ became /ʎ/, as in other popular words. DEI calls the word popular throughout…
familiare
It is borrowed from Latin familiāris (“of the household; intimate”), a derivative of familia (“household”) with the suffix -āris. DEI and Battaglia call it a learned word. The inherited word from…
famoso
It is borrowed from Latin fāmōsus (“much talked of; notorious”), formed fāma (“report, reputation”) and -ōsus (“full of”). The Latin adjective often meant “of bad repute”, and Devoto thinks its…
fantasma
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin phantasma (“ghost, apparition”), from Ancient Greek φάντασμα (phántasma, “apparition, vision; ghost”), a derivative of φαντάζω (phantázō, “to make visible…
fantastico
It is a learned word, borrowed from Late Latin phantasticus (“imaginary”), from Ancient Greek φανταστικός (phantastikós), which DELI derives from φαντασία (phantasía), the source of fantasia…
fare
It is inherited from Late Latin fāre, the shortened Late Latin infinitive of Latin facere (“to make, do”). DELI, Nocentini and GRADIT give the classical “facere” as the source. The reduced…
faro
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin Pharus, from Ancient Greek Φάρος (Pháros), the name of a small island off Alexandria in Egypt. There Ptolemy II Philadelphus built in the 3rd century BC a…
favore
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin favor (“goodwill, support”), from faveō (“to be favourably inclined”). The same Latin noun gave French faveur, Spanish favor and Portuguese favor. The…
fede
It is inherited from Latin fidem (“trust; faith; loyalty”). With the Latin derivatives fidēlis and fidēlitās it gave fedele and fedeltà. Battaglia's dictionary (GDLI) calls it a learned word that…
felice
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin fēlīx (“fruitful; fortunate, happy”), from the accusative ⟨felicem⟩. The Latin adjective first meant “fruitful, productive”: Festus records that Cato called…
ferito
It is the past participle of ferire “to wound”, used as an adjective and noun. The verb is inherited from Latin ferīre (“to strike, hit”), which in spoken Latin passed from “to strike” to “to…
fermare
It is inherited from Latin firmāre (“to make firm, strengthen, confirm”), from firmus (“firm, stable”). Sabatini–Coletti and Wiktionary treat it as the popular form beside the learned firmare (“to…
fermo
It is inherited from Latin firmus (“firm, stable, strong”). The Latin ⟨i⟩ in place of an expected ⟨e⟩ is held to be a rustic, non-Roman trait; de Vaan prefers to explain it as raising after a…
festa
It is inherited from Late Latin fēsta (“feast, holiday”), originally the neuter plural of fēstum (“feast”), taken as a feminine singular; the noun comes from the adjective fēstus (“festive…
fido
1. The adjective is a learned word, borrowed from Latin fīdus (“trusty, faithful”), from fīdō (“to trust”). The Latin word continues Proto-Italic *feiþos and Proto-Indo-European *bʰeydʰós, from the…
fiducia
It is a learned borrowed from Latin fīdūcia (“trust, confidence”), derived from fīdō (“to trust”). The Latin noun is formed on an unattested adjective *fīdūcus, built on the verb as cadūcus…
figlio
It is inherited from Latin fīlius (“son”). DÉRom reconstructs Proto-Romance */ˈɸili-u/, found in every Romance language; French and Franco-Provençal continue the nominative */ˈɸili-u-s/. It is…
figliolo
It is inherited from Latin fīliolus (“little son”), the diminutive of fīlius (“son”) with the suffix -olus. Sabatini–Coletti start from Vulgar Latin *filiolu. In Italian it can also be read as from…
finale
It is borrowed from Late Latin fīnālis (“final; of boundaries”), from Latin fīnis (“end; boundary, limit”). It is a learned word: in Latin the adjective first belonged to the land surveyors and…
fine
1. The noun is inherited from Latin fīnis (“boundary, limit; end”). The same word is French fin, Occitan fi, Catalan fi, Spanish fin and Portuguese fim. Its derivatives came into Italian as learned…
finestra
It is inherited from Latin fenĕstra (“window; opening in a wall”). The word is panromance: French fenêtre, Occitan fenestra, Catalan finestra, Old Spanish hiniestra, Portuguese fresta (“skylight”)…
fingere
It is inherited from Latin fingere (“to shape, to fashion; to imagine; to feign”). GDLI calls it a learned word, while Nocentini and DEI group it with the popular outcomes in other Romance…
finire
It is inherited from Latin fīniō (“to bound, limit; to finish”), from fīnis (“boundary, limit, end”). GDLI calls it a learned word. It is found in French, Occitan, Catalan, Spanish and Portuguese…
fino
1. The preposition is inherited from Latin fīne (“at the limit”), the ablative of the noun “limit, end”, used in prepositional phrases such as ⟨fine a(d)⟩ and ⟨in fine a(d)⟩. Latin itself used fīne…
fiore
It is inherited from Latin flōs (“flower”), from its accusative form. The word is panromance: French fleur, Occitan flor, Catalan flor, Spanish flor, Portuguese flor, Sardinian flore, Friulian flor…
firmare
It is borrowed from Latin firmāre (“to make firm; to confirm”), a learned word, from firmus (“firm, steady”). Its popular doublet is fermare “to stop”, inherited from the same Latin verb. The noun…
fiume
It is inherited from Latin flūmen (“flowing water, river”). DELI and GRADIT write the Latin word with its final consonant in brackets, since the Italian comes from a form without it. The Latin noun…
fondo
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…
fonte
It is inherited from Latin fōns (“spring, source”), from the accusative fontem. The word is found in most Romance languages: Occitan fon, Catalan font, Spanish fuente, Portuguese fonte and Friulian…
forma
It is inherited from Latin forma (“form, shape; mould; beauty”). DELI, however, classes it with its derivatives among the learned words taken from Latin. The word is found across Romance: French…
forse
It is inherited from Latin forsit (“perhaps”), a fusion of fors (“chance, luck”) and sit (“may it be”), literally “be it chance”. Devoto describes how an independent clause became an adverbial…
forte
It is inherited from Latin fortis (“strong, brave”). The word is panromance: French fort, Occitan fort, Catalan fort, Spanish fuerte, Portuguese forte and Sardinian forte, and Romanian foarte…
fortuna
It is inherited from Latin fortūna (“chance, fate; good luck; wealth”), derived from fors (“chance”). DEI and the GDLI see the learned tradition of the word, while Nocentini notes that French…
fortunato
It is borrowed from Latin fortūnātus (“prosperous, lucky, happy”), the past participle of fortūnō (“to make prosperous”), from fortūna (“chance, luck”). Italian fortuna continues the same noun, and…
forza
It is inherited from Late Latin fortia (“strength”), the neuter plural of Latin fortis (“strong”), “the strong things”, understood as a feminine singular. The Late Latin word is first found in…
fra
1. The preposition is inherited from Latin īnfrā (“below, beneath”), which lost its first syllable. In Late Latin it was confused with intrā (“within”), and so took the sense “between” that it…
fratello
It is inherited from Latin frātellus (“little brother”), a diminutive of frāter (“brother”). DELI and Nocentini give it as a word of spoken Latin, DEI as a Late Latin word recorded by the…
freddo
It is inherited from Late Latin frigdus, the syncopated Late Latin form of Latin frīgidus (“cold”). The short form is attested as “fricda” in the Appendix Probi, which corrects it to “frigida”, and…