acquoso

Forms

acquoso (feminine acquosa, masculine plural acquosi, feminine plural acquose)^[1] The old spelling was Old Italian aquoso.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin aquōsus (“abounding in water”), formed on aqua (“water”) with -ōsus, and its ⟨cqu⟩ was shaped by acqua.^{[4][5][6][7][8]} Zingarelli calls it a learned word, while the LEI and Wiktionary treat it as inherited.^[9][7][1]

The Latin adjective lives on in Romanian apos, Old French ewos, Old Occitan aigos, Spanish agoso, Portuguese aguoso and Sardinian abbósu, the last said of watery fruit.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Questioni filosofiche, a south-eastern Tuscan text of about 1298, where the word means “made of water”, said mainly of clouds and vapour.^[2] In Arrighetto's translation (1304–1313) it describes sweat: Ora nimichevole sudore acquoso è nel mio corpo (“now a hostile watery sweat is in my body”).^[12][4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already had the senses “containing water, often too much”, “soaked, marshy” or “well watered”, and “bringing rain”.^[2] The translator of Crescenzi used it of wet ground (1320) and of watery grapes.^[10][12] Leonardo wrote of vapore acquoso (1519), and Biringuccio formed acquosità (before 1537).^[10]

Tommaseo distinguished acqueo, which names the nature of water, from acquoso, which says how much water a thing holds.^[3] In the 20th century the word was used for eyes without expression (Borgese, 1922, Soffici, 1952), and chemistry took up soluzione acquosa, a solution in water.^[10][13]

Timeline

• About 1298 – First record, in the Questioni filosofiche.^[2]
• 1304–1313 – Arrighetto speaks of watery sweat.^[4]
• 1320 – The translation of Crescenzi uses it for soaked ground.^[10]
• 1519 – Leonardo writes vapore acquoso.^[10]
• Before 1537 – Biringuccio uses acquosità.^[10]
• 1922 – Borgese uses the word for eyes without expression.^[10]
• 1961 – The GDLI records soluzione acquosa in chemistry.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. watery; containing water or juice, often too much of it: pere acquose e senza sapore.^[14][15][16]
2. Of ground, soaked with water, marshy.^[14][9][13]
3. rainy: un autunno acquoso.^[14][16][9]
4. Of the eyes or a look, tearful; also empty, without expression.^[14][9][17]
5. Like water: un fluido acquoso.^[14][9]
6. (figurative) Of a colour, washed-out, pale.^[14]
7. (figurative) Of speech or writing, without substance and wordy.^[15]
8. (chemistry) Of a solution, having water as the solvent: soluzione acquosa.^[13][14]

Word family

• acquosità

Related words

• acqua
• acqueo
• Latin aquōsus

Usage notes

Zingarelli gives the literary synonym acquoreo for the sense “like water”.^[9] The s is pronounced both voiced and voiceless.^[1][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 671
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
16. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana