angoscioso

Forms

angoscioso (feminine angosciosa, masculine plural angosciosi, feminine plural angosciose)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin angustiōsus (“fearful, anxious”), recorded from Gregory the Great (before 604).^[2][3][4][5] The LEI counts the ordinary form as inherited, with a separate learned development.^[2] Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti treat it as formed in Italian, from Italian angoscia + -oso.^[6][7][1] The Latin adjective also gave Old French anguissus (11th century), French angoisseux, Old Occitan angoissos and Catalan angoixós.^[2][5]

Late Latin angustiōsus is angustia (“narrowness”) with the suffix -ōsus.^[1][8] The noun comes from angustus (“narrow”), from the root of angō (“to squeeze, strangle”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂emǵʰ- (“to tie, tighten”).^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the poems of Tomaso di Sasso, Tuscan, of the first half of the 13th century: e vita assai sofersi ed angosciosa “and I suffered a life much anguished”.^[11][8][12] In the Old Italian of the TLIO the first sense is physical: causing oppression, making it hard to breathe.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word widely: for the stormy sea, for a person exhausted or fainting, for what causes grief, fear or worry, for someone eager or solicitous, and for a fierce battle.^[11] Bonvesin da la Riva wrote of fumo angososo, a stifling smoke, and a Sicilian text of the 15th century of a convulsive cough.^[2] The sense “causing anguish” is recorded from about 1274, “anguished, afflicted” from Guinizelli (before 1276), and “expressing anguish” from Dante (about 1313), who speaks of angoscioso pianto.^[2][13]

In some northern dialects the word came to mean “annoying”, and in central and southern ones “angry, peevish”.^[2] Regional Italian keeps the sense “whining and tiresome”.^[3][7] As a musical term it was borrowed into German (1865) and French (1880).^[14]

Timeline

• Before 604 – Late Latin angustiosus “fearful” in Gregory the Great.^[2]
• 1200–1250 – Tomaso di Sasso uses angoscioso.^[11][8]
• c. 1274 – The Fiori di filosafi use it for what causes grief.^[2]
• Before 1276 – Guinizelli uses it for a person afflicted.^[2]
• c. 1313 – Dante uses it for weeping that expresses anguish.^[2][13]
• 1865 – German borrows angoscioso as a musical term.^[14]
• 1880 – French borrows it as a musical term.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Causing anguish, distressing, tormenting: un'attesa angosciosa.^{[3][6][4][15]}
2. Expressing anguish, anguished: una voce angosciosa.^{[3][6][7][15]}
3. (regional) Of a person: whining and tiresome, nagging.^[3][7]
4. (music) Of singing or playing: expressing anguish.^[14]

Word family

• angosciosamente
• angosciosità

Related words

• angoscia
• angosciare
• angustia
• angusto
• Late Latin angustiōsus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 2, 1267
3. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 1, 474
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
15. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)