causa Italian · revision 37816

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=late 12th century, Proverbia que dicuntur (Venetian)|origins=la causa}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈkaw.sa/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''causa''' ''f'' (plural cause)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old Italian forms include ''cauça'', ''cauza'' and ''chausa''.^(TLIO)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a learned word, [[bor|la|causa|t=cause, reason; lawsuit]], an older [[m|la|caussa]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003) The same Latin noun, in popular speech, became [[cosa]] “thing”, as it did in nearly all the Romance languages: [[fr|chose]], [[es|cosa]], [[pt|coisa]].^(DELI 1999)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(LEI|13, 386)^(REW 1935) The LEI notes that the popular and learned outcomes are hard to separate, because in southern Italy and parts of the north /au/ is kept even in popular words.^(LEI|13, 386)

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+ The origin of the Latin noun is unknown.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Devoto 1968) Walde and Hofmann, followed by the OLD, linked it to [[m|la|cūdō|t=to strike]], as “a blow” that sets things moving, but Ernout and Meillet doubted any Indo-European source;^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Wiktionary compares Etruscan [[m|ett|cavsa]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian ''Proverbia que dicuntur'', of the late 12th century, in the sense “what produces an effect, reason”.^(TLIO) DELI's first record of this sense is in Brunetto Latini (1260–1261).^(DELI 1999)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The legal sense “lawsuit, trial” is recorded in 1322 in the statute of the Order of the Sea at Pisa; it was as old as the Latin word, which named a party's case in court.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI)^(de Vaan 2008) Old Italian used ''causa'' also in philosophy, with ''causa prima'' for God, and in rhetoric for the kinds of oration.^(TLIO) The phrase ''causa finale'' spread after Leibniz.^(DEI|822)

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+ The sense “cause” in politics, a set of claims a group fights for, appears in Guicciardini before 1540.^(DELI 1999) In bureaucratic Italian ''causa'' is also used as a preposition, ''causa maltempo'' “owing to bad weather”.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010) A Venetian charter of 1084 already names a man ''Ugo Causatorta''.^(Prati 1951|258)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1084 – The surname ''Causatorta'' is in a Rialto charter.^(Prati 1951|258)

+ * Late 12th century – The ''Proverbia que dicuntur'' have the first record.^(TLIO)

+ * 1260–1261 – Brunetto Latini uses ''causa'' “reason”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1304–1308 – Dante uses ''causare''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1322 – The Pisan statute of the Order of the Sea uses it for a lawsuit.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1540 – Guicciardini uses it for a political cause.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|cause]], reason, what brings something about: ''La nebbia è stata la causa dell'incidente.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(philosophy)'' A principle on which a thing depends: ''causa prima'', ''causa efficiente''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(law)'' A [[m|en|lawsuit]], case: ''Ha fatto causa al suo ex datore di lavoro.''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A cause, an ideal or aim one supports: ''lottare per la causa della pace''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

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+ ==Word family==

+ * [[causale]]

+ * [[causalità]]

+ * [[causare]]

+ * [[causativo]]

+ * [[causidico]]

+ * [[concausa]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cosa]]

+ * [[accusare]]

+ * [[scusare]]

+ * [[la|causa]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''A causa di'' means “because of” and ''per causa mia'' “because of me, through my fault”.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011) The proverb ''chi è causa del suo mal pianga sé stesso'' says that those who bring trouble on themselves have only themselves to blame.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}