Line by Italian, earl translated word for word (7)
I believe the answer is:
literal
'word for word' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'line by italian earl translated' is the wordplay.
'line' becomes 'l'.
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'italian' becomes 'it'.
'translated' indicates anagramming the letters.
'earl' anagrammed gives 'eral'.
'l'+'it'+'eral'='LITERAL'
(Other definitions for literal that I've seen before include "Verbatim - true" , "According to the letter" , "Taking words in their most basic sense" , "All tire (anag.)" , "Avoiding embellishment" .)