Italian words from Latin
1281 Italian words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 9).
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…
giudicare
It continues inherited from Latin iūdicō (“to judge, pass judgement”), from iūdex (“judge”). GDLI calls it a semi-learned word. Like the noun, the verb is analysed as iūs (“law”) and dīcō (“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…
gloria
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin glōria (“fame, renown; glory”). The word spread to all the languages of European culture mainly through the Latin of the Church: the same borrowing is…
gola
It is inherited from Latin gula (“throat, gullet; gluttony”), a word that already had the figurative sense “gluttony” in Latin, as early as Sallust. The same word is French gueule (“mouth, face”)…
governatore
It continues inherited from Latin gubernātor (“helmsman, pilot”), the agent noun of gubernō (“to steer; to govern”), and stands beside governare. Tommaseo treats it as the verbal noun of that verb…
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…
gratis
It is the adverb borrowed from Latin grātīs (“for nothing, free”), contracted from grātiīs, the ablative plural of grātia (“favour, kindness”): literally “out of kindness”. The Latin noun comes from…
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…
identificare
It is borrowed from Medieval Latin identificō (“to make identical”), a learned word of philosophical origin. The Medieval Latin verb is formed from identicus (“identical”) and the stem of Latin…
identità
It is borrowed from Late Latin identitās (“sameness”), recorded in Saint Cyprian, from īdem (“the same”). The Latin word is a calque of Ancient Greek ταὐτότης (tautótēs, “sameness”), from ταὐτός…
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…
impedire
It is borrowed from Latin impediō (“to shackle the feet; to hinder”), from in- and pēs (“foot”), properly “to put fetters on the feet”. Zingarelli and the GDLI call it a learned word. In Latin the…
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…
impiegato
It is the past participle of impiegare (“to employ”), used as a noun. DEI, Sabatini–Coletti and the 19th-century purist Ugolini see the noun as modelled on French employé. The verb is the popular…
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…
impressione
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin impressio (“a pressing into; an imprint”). The Latin noun was formed from impressus, the past participle of imprimō (“to press into, stamp”), which is 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…
incendio
It is borrowed from Latin incendium (“fire, conflagration”), a learned word. The Latin noun comes from incendō (“to set on fire, burn”), a compound of the intensive prefix in- and a verb related to…
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…
incubo
It is borrowed from Late Latin incubus, a learned word. The Late Latin word, found in Saint Augustine (before 430), means “the one who lies on top”: the evil spirit believed to settle on the chest…
indagare
It is borrowed from Latin indāgāre (“to track down, trace, investigate”), a learned word. The Latin verb depends on the hunting noun indāgō (“ring of hunters; investigation”), the source of…
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…
indiano
It is borrowed from Late Latin indiānus (“of India”), a learned word formed on Latin India. The Late Latin adjective took the place of older Indus according to DELI, of Indicus according to…
indietro
It continues inherited from Vulgar Latin *in dē retrō, a phrase made of Latin in (“in”), dē (“from”) and retrō (“backwards, behind”). Wiktionary and Gabrielli describe it instead as formed in…
indovinare
It continues inherited from Vulgar Latin *indivināre, made from Latin dīvīnāre (“to foretell, prophesy”) with the prefix in-. The Latin verb is a derivative of dīvīnus (“divine; prophetic”). GRADIT…
indovino
It is a deverbal noun of indovinare (“to divine, guess”). DEI and Treccani explain it instead as from Latin dīvīnus (“soothsayer, prophet”) remade on the Italian verb, and Devoto as a crossing of…
inferno
It is a learned word, borrowed from Late Latin infernum (“hell”), the noun use of Latin infernus (“lower, underground”). The Latin adjective is formed from inferus (“lying below”) on the model of…
informazione
It is borrowed from Latin īnfōrmātiō (“formation of an idea, notion”), from īnfōrmō (“to give shape to; to form an idea of”), from in- and fōrma (“shape”). Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti treat it…
ingannare
It is inherited from Late Latin ingannāre, recorded in the Reichenau Glossary of the 8th century, where it glosses insultaret “he would mock”. Nocentini reconstructs Vulgar Latin *ingannāre (“to…
ingresso
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin ingressus (“entry, entrance”), a noun formed on the past participle of ingredior (“to go in”), from gradior (“to step, walk”) with the prefix in- (“in”)…
iniziare
It is borrowed from Latin initiō (“to initiate into the mysteries; begin”), a learned word, a verb formed from initium (“beginning”). Devoto–Oli derives it instead from inizio. The Latin verb first…
inizio
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin initium (“beginning, (plural) mysteries”). The Latin noun is formed on ineō (“to go into, enter; to begin”), from in- (“in”) and eō (“to go”). Its…
innocente
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin innocēns (“harmless; blameless”), formed in- (“not”) and nocēns (“harmful; guilty”), the present participle of noceō (“to harm”): literally “one who does no…
insegnare
It is inherited from Late Latin īnsignō (“to imprint signs”), a verb of the Latin glosses, formed with an intensive in- from signō (“to mark; to show, explain”), in the sense “to show, explain” that…
inseguire
It is borrowed from Latin īnsequor (“to follow closely”), from in- and sequor (“to follow”), taken over as a learned word and remade on the model of seguire. Nocentini and Meyer-Lübke start instead…
insieme
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *insemel, a blend of Latin īnsimul (“at the same time, together”) and semel (“once”). īnsimul is found in Statius in the 1st century, and is simul (“at the same…
insistere
It is borrowed from Latin īnsistere (“to stand on; to persist”), a learned word. The Latin verb is formed from sistō (“to set up; to stand still”) with the prefix in- (“on”), and so meant literally…