credere Italian · revision 37527

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1190, Raimbaut de Vaqueiras|origins=ine-pro *ḱred-dʰeh₁-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈkre.de.re/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''credere''' (first-person singular present crédo, first-person singular past historic credétti or (traditional) credètti or credéi, past participle credùto, auxiliary avére)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old Italian has the shortened forms ''cre’'' and ''crê''.^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|crēdō|t=to trust, believe; to entrust]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The word is panromance: [[fr|croire]], [[oc|creire]], [[ca|creure]], [[es|creer]], [[pt|crer]], [[sc|crere]] and [[ro|crede]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) The DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance verb meaning both “to believe” and “to lend”; the second sense survives only in the old stages of Italian, French, Francoprovençal, Occitan and Catalan, which it takes as the remnant of an old meaning.^(DÉRom)

+

+ The Latin verb is an old compound of [[ine-pro|*ḱred-]] and [[m|ine-pro|*dʰeh₁-|t=to put]], the root also of [[fare]]: “to place one's heart”, that is, to trust.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Wiktionary) Its closest relatives are [[sa|श्रद्दधाति|tr=śraddadhāti|t=to trust, believe]] and [[ae|zrazdā-|t=trusting, believing]], and the Celtic word for believing, [[cy|credu]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Devoto calls it a very old word of the Indo-European priestly class, preserved only at the edges of the area, in Latin and Celtic and in Indo-Iranian.^(Devoto 1968|122)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is in the bilingual ''Contrasto'' of Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, about 1190, in Genoese.^(TLIO)^(Nocentini 2010) DELI's first record of the sense “to hold true” is in Rustico di Filippo, before 1300.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ DELI dates “to consider probable or advisable” to before 1294 (Brunetto Latini), absolute “to have faith in God” to before 1292 (Bono Giamboni), “to be certain that someone or something exists” to before 1306 (Iacopone), and “to judge, to deem” to 1304–1308 (Dante).^(DELI 1999) The infinitive as a noun, “opinion”, is in Boccaccio in 1353.^(DELI 1999) Old Italian also used it for “to entrust” and, in trade, “to give on credit”;^(TLIO) German ''glauben'' copied this commercial sense as early as 1340.^(DIFIT)

+

+ Many Latin derivatives came into Italian by the learned route: ''credente'', ''credibile'', ''credito'', ''creditore'' and ''credulo''.^(DELI 1999) ''Credenza'', first “belief”, came to mean the tasting of a lord's food to show it was not poisoned, then the sideboard where the dishes were kept, recorded in 1518–1525 in Firenzuola.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) In the 1960s ''credibile'' and ''credibilità'' took on senses of English ''credible'' and ''credibility''.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * About 1190 – Raimbaut de Vaqueiras uses the verb in Genoese.^(TLIO)^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for “to have faith”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1300 – Rustico di Filippo uses it for “to hold true”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1304–1308 – Dante uses it for “to judge, to deem”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1340 – German ''glauben'' is recorded in the commercial sense “to give on credit”.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1353 – Boccaccio uses ''il credere'' for “opinion”.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|believe]], to be convinced that something is true: ''non credo a una parola di quello che dice''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To trust, to give credit to a person: ''credimi, è la verità''.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # ''credere in'', to have faith in; to believe in God or in something's existence: ''crede nel destino''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(DELI 1999)

+ # To [[m|en|think]], to suppose: ''credo che il negozio chiuda alle sette''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary)

+ # With a predicate, to consider: ''lo credevo più giovane''.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # ''credersi'', to think oneself: ''si crede un genio''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[credente]]

+ * [[ricredere]]

+ * [[miscredente]]

+ * [[discredere]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[credenza]]

+ * [[credibile]]

+ * [[credito]]

+ * [[credo]]

+ * [[credulo]]

+ * [[creditore]]

+ * [[incredibile]]

+ * [[credenziale]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Fixed phrases include ''vedere per credere'' (seeing is believing), ''dare a credere'' (to make someone believe), ''oltre ogni credere'' (beyond belief) and ''non credere ai propri occhi'' (not to believe one's eyes).^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}