Italian words from Latin
1037 Italian words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 7).
fregare
It is inherited from Latin fricāre (“to rub, chafe”). The voicing of the ⟨c⟩ between vowels to ⟨g⟩ is a northern development, so the Tuscan word probably came from the north; Wiktionary gives an…
fresco
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *friscus (“fresh”), from Proto-Germanic *friskaz (“fresh”). The sources agree on the Germanic origin but differ on how the word came in: DELI holds that, because it…
fronte
It is inherited from Latin frons (“forehead, brow; front”). GRADIT gives the Latin source as a variant with /u/ beside the usual form with short /o/. The GDLI alone calls it a learned word. The word…
fucile
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…
fuga
It is borrowed from Latin fuga (“flight, escape”), a learned word, from fugiō (“to flee”). The same Latin noun came down by the popular route as foga (“impetus, ardour”). Elsewhere the inherited…
fuggire
It is inherited from Late Latin fugīre (“to flee”), an infinitive which from the 4th century replaced classical ⟨fugere⟩. DEI says the change of conjugation was modelled on the perfect fūgī, and…
fumare
It is inherited from Latin fūmō (“to smoke, give off smoke”), a verb formed from fūmus (“smoke”), the source of fumo. The verb lived on across the Romance languages: French fumer, Occitan fumar…
fumo
It is inherited from Latin fūmus (“smoke”), from Proto-Italic *fūmos. The word is pan-Romance: Old French fum (modern French fumée), Occitan fum, Catalan fum, Spanish humo, Portuguese fumo…
funerale
It is a learned word, borrowed from Late Latin fūnerālis (“funeral, funereal”), an adjective formed from the stem of Latin fūnus (“funeral rites”). The noun use already existed in Late Latin: DEI…
fuoco
It is inherited from Latin focus (“hearth, fireplace”). For fire itself Latin used the old Indo-European word ignis (“fire”), while the noun meant the domestic hearth, opposed to āra (“altar”), the…
fuori
It is inherited from Latin forīs (“outside”). The variants ⟨fora⟩ and ⟨fuora⟩ continue forās (“out, to the outside”), used for motion, while forīs expressed rest; DEI notes that the two were used…
futuro
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin futūrus (“about to be”), the future participle of sum (“to be”), built on the stem of the perfect fuī (“I was”); the noun follows futūrum (“what is to be”)…
gamba
It is inherited from Late Latin gamba (“hock, leg of a horse”), a word of the 4th-century veterinary writers Chiron, Pelagonius and Vegetius, where manuscripts often spell it ⟨camba⟩. It was…
gatto
It is inherited from Late Latin cattus, with its feminine catta and the manuscript variants gattus and gatta. The Late Latin word, first in Palladius in the 4th century, replaced classical Latin…
generale
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin generālis (“belonging to a kind or species”), from genus (“birth, race, kind”) and the suffix -ālis. It was spread through Late Latin and the medieval…
genere
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin genus (“birth, descent, race; kind”), genitive ⟨generis⟩. Sabatini–Coletti explains the Italian form: it was rebuilt on the stem ⟨gener-⟩ with a final ⟨-e⟩…
genio
1. The spirit and the talent are a learned word, borrowed from Latin genius (“guardian deity; inclination”). In Latin the word named the personal deity who accompanies each person from birth, and so…
genitore
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin genitor (“begetter, father”), from gignō (“to beget, produce”) with the agent suffix -tor. The Latin noun continues Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁tōr…
gente
It is inherited from Latin gens (“clan, family; people, nation”), from the accusative ⟨gentem⟩, a noun related to gignō (“to beget”). It is panromance: French gent, Occitan gen, Catalan gent, Old…
gentile
1. The word for a non-Jew or pagan is borrowed from Late Latin gentīlis (“heathen, pagan”), a word of Church Latin first found in Tertullian. In the plural it rendered in the Gospels Ancient Greek…
gettare
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *iectāre (“to throw”), a form of classical iactāre (“to throw, toss”), the frequentative of iaciō (“to throw”). DELI explains the vowel by the compounds, where…
ghiaccio
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *glăcia, a spoken form of the classical Latin glaciēs (“ice”). The Latin feminine kept its gender in every Romance language but Italian, where the oldest texts have…
già
It is inherited from Latin iam (“now, already”). The word is common to most of the Romance languages: French ja, Occitan ja, Catalan ja, Spanish ya, Portuguese já and Sardinian ja, with Friulian…
giocare
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *iocāre (“to joke; to play”), an active form of classical Latin iocor (“to joke, jest”), derived from iocus (“joke, jest”), which became Italian gioco. Wiktionary…
gioco
It is inherited from Latin iocus (“jest, joke”). In Latin the word meant above all a joke in words, but it later replaced Latin lūdus (“game, play”), the game in action. The GDLI calls it a…
giorno
It is inherited from Late Latin diurnum (“day”), short for diurnum tempus (“daytime”), the neuter of the adjective Latin diurnus (“of the day, daily”). The noun is recorded in Latin from the 4th…
giovane
It is inherited from Latin iuvenis (“young; young person”), through a spoken form Vulgar Latin *iovenis with /o/ in the first syllable. The unstressed vowel after the stress opened to /a/, as usual…
girare
It is inherited from Late Latin gȳrō (“to turn round in a circle”), derived from gȳrus (“circle, ring, turn”), which is from Ancient Greek γῦρος (gûros, “circle, ring”). DEI notes that the Latin…
giro
It is inherited from Latin gȳrus (“circle, ring”), from the accusative ⟨gyrum⟩, borrowed from Ancient Greek γῦρος (gûros, “circle”). Devoto traces the Latin word to the language of horsemanship…
giù
It is inherited from Old Italian giuso in a shortened form, inherited from Late Latin iūsum (“downwards”), which replaced classical Latin deorsum in later Latin. DELI dates the Late Latin form to…
giudice
It is inherited from Latin iūdex (“judge”), from the accusative iūdicem. GDLI calls it a semi-learned word. The word is pan-Romance: French juge (the source of the English judge), Occitan jutge…
giustizia
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin iūstitia (“justice”), from iūstus (“just”) with the suffix -itia; “iustus” means “according to law”, from iūs (“law, right”). The GDLI calls it…
giusto
It is inherited from Latin iustus (“just, lawful”), “in keeping with the law”, from iūs (“law, right”). The Latin word was both an adjective and, later, a noun. The GDLI calls the Italian word…
gli
The article and the pronoun are both inherited from Latin ille (“that”) with the first syllable lost: the article is the nominative plural ⟨illī⟩ “those”, the pronoun the dative singular ⟨illī⟩ “to…
governo
It is inherited from Latin gubernum (“steering oar, rudder”), from gubernō (“to steer; to govern”). The Latin verb was borrowed from Ancient Greek κυβερνάω (kubernáō, “to steer”), a word of obscure…
grado
1. The word for pleasure is inherited from Latin grātum (“something pleasing”), the neuter of grātus (“welcome, pleasing; grateful”) used as a noun, which also gave the learned grato. The ⟨d⟩ for…
grande
It is inherited from Latin grandis (“grown up, big, tall”). The Latin word was colloquial beside the more classical magnus (“great”), and in the Romance languages it replaced it. According to…
grasso
It is inherited from Late Latin grassus (“fat”), a form of Latin crassus (“thick, fat”) with its initial changed under the influence of grossus (“thick, coarse”). The form with /g/ is found in Late…
grave
It is inherited from Latin gravis (“heavy; serious”), heavy in both the physical and the moral sense. The DEI notes that the Latin adjective survived in central and southern Italy, Sardinia, Spain…
grosso
It is inherited from Latin grossus (“thick, coarse”), a popular word of Latin, first recorded in the 1st century AD. Every Romance language has it, and the DÉRom reconstructs Vulgar Latin…
gruppo
It is a form of groppo (“knot, tangle”), and has the same Germanic origin. According to DELI, both are borrowed from Late Latin cruppa (“thick rope”), a word of the Latin glosses that renders a…
idea
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin idea (“idea, Platonic form”), from Ancient Greek ἰδέα (idéa, “appearance, form”). The Greek noun is formed from the root of ἰδεῖν (ideîn, “to see”), the…
idiota
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin idiōta (“layman; ignorant person”), from Ancient Greek ἰδιώτης (idiṓtēs, “private citizen; layman”), from ἴδιος (ídios, “one's own, private”). The Greek…
ieri
It is inherited from Latin heri (“yesterday”). The word is found throughout the Romance languages: French hier, Occitan er, Catalan ahir, Spanish ayer, Sardinian eris and Romanian ieri; Old…
il
It is inherited from Latin ille (“that”), from the accusative ⟨illum⟩ shortened in unstressed position before a noun. The article is a Romance innovation drawn from the Latin demonstrative; only…
immaginare
It is borrowed from Latin imāginor (“to picture to oneself, imagine”), a learned word, from imāgō (“image, likeness”). Sabatini, Treccani, Gabrielli and Devoto name an active form Late Latin…
immagine
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin imāgō (“likeness, portrait; appearance, phantom”), taken from the accusative ⟨imaginem⟩. The Latin word spread widely in the language of the Bible and of…
imparare
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…
impegnato
It is the past participle of impegnare (“to pawn; to commit”), used as an adjective. The verb (13th century) is formed from pegno (“pledge”) with the prefix in-, and Medieval Latin had impignare in…
importante
It is the present participle of importare “to matter”, used as an adjective: from Italian importare + -ante. The verb is borrowed from Latin importō (“to bring in; to bring about”), formed from in-…
importare
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin importō (“to carry in, bring in; to cause”), formed with in- (“in”) and portō (“to carry”). The older senses, “to bring about, entail” and then “to matter”…
impossibile
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin impossibilis (“impossible”), made of in- (“not”) and possibilis (“possible”). The Latin adjective was introduced in imperial times, and is found in…
improvviso
It is borrowed from Latin imprōvīsus (“unforeseen, unexpected”), a learned word. The Latin adjective is formed with the negative prefix in- on prōvīsus (“foreseen”), the past participle of prōvideō…
in
It is inherited from Latin in (“in, into, on”). The Latin preposition replaced an older en, found in early inscriptions such as the Duenos inscription: /e/ became /i/ regularly in unstressed…
incidente
It is borrowed from Latin incidēns (“falling upon, happening”), the present participle of incidō (“to fall upon, befall”), a learned word handed down by the Scholastics. The Latin verb is formed…
incinto
The feminine incinta, the usual form, continues inherited from Late Latin incincta (“pregnant”). The Late Latin word reshaped the classical Latin inciēns (“big with young”), a word of animal…
incontrare
It is inherited from Late Latin incontrāre, a verb formed in late antiquity from the adverb incontrā (“towards, facing”). DELI finds the verb in the Itala, the old Latin Bible translation, around…
incontro
1. The noun is formed from the verb incontrare, without a suffix. The verb, recorded as Old Italian emcontrare in the late 12th century, is inherited from Late Latin incontrāre, found in the Itala…
incredibile
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin incrēdibilis (“unbelievable”), formed from in- (“not”) and crēdibilis (“believable”), from crēdō (“to believe, entrust”). Latin later derived incrēdibilitās…
indagine
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin indāgō (“a ring of hunters or nets; a search”). The Latin noun first meant a hunt in which the game was surrounded and driven into nets, and then a search…