cesso

Forms

cesso m (plural cessi)^[1]

Etymology

The origin is disputed, but every proposal looks to the family of Latin cēdō (“to go away, withdraw”).^[2][3] Nocentini, following a study by Gomez Gane, prefers the view that it is inherited from Latin sēcessus (“a withdrawal; a secluded place”) with the loss of the prefix sē-, a euphemism like ritirata.^[2] The Latin word is found with the sense “latrine” from the Vulgate on (Matthew 15:17, where food “is sent out into the privy”), and is formed from sēcēdō (“to go apart, withdraw”).^[2][1]

DELI, GRADIT, Zingarelli and Gabrielli instead derive the word from Latin recessus (“a retreat, a recess”), from recēdō (“to go back, withdraw”).^[4][5][6][7] Meyer-Lübke supported this, since recessus already meant “privy” in early times, and thought sēcessus and a Late Latin cessus less likely.^[8] DEI starts from recessus too, through the Late Latin cessus.^[9]

A third view, given by Devoto, Devoto–Oli, Treccani and Wiktionary, makes it a deverbal noun from Italian cessare (“to withdraw”), from the old sense “to remove” of the verb and of its reflexive cessarsi “to withdraw”.^{[10][11][12][1]} Prati also thought it came from cessare or from the Latin participle cessus, and rejected both recessus and sēcessus.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a Pisan translation of the treatises of Albertano da Brescia, 1287–1288, where an honest man “is forced by great need to go into a privy”.^[13][14] DELI dates it to the poems of Rustico, before 1300, who scolds an old woman for carrying the latrine with her wherever she goes.^[4][14]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word meant a latrine, and the TLIO also records its use for the bad smell of one.^[13] Machiavelli, Ariosto and Giordano Bruno used it, and Palladio describes cessi placed beside the stairs.^[14]

Old Italian also had the phrases in cesso and di cesso, “aside, at a distance”: in Dante's Inferno the Malebranche are told to stand un poco in cesso.^[14][6][12] This use, a “secluded place”, is now obsolete.^[5][6]

In modern colloquial Italian, where the word is vulgar or popular, cesso is extended to any filthy place or thing and, figuratively, to something or someone very ugly or worthless.^[5][6][12]

Timeline

• 1287–1288 – The Pisan translation of Albertano da Brescia uses cesso for a privy.^[13]
• Before 1300 – Rustico uses the word in a comic sonnet.^[4][14]
• c. 1313 – Dante's Inferno has in cesso, “aside”.^[14][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (colloquial) toilet, latrine, lavatory: Dov'è il cesso?^[5][11][15]
2. (colloquial, vulgar) A filthy or squalid place or thing: questa stanza è diventata un cesso.^[5][6][12]
3. (figurative, colloquial, vulgar) A very ugly or worthless person or thing.^[5][11][15]
4. (obsolete) A secluded place; in the phrases in cesso, di cesso, da cesso: aside, at a distance.^[5][6][7]

Word family

• vuotacessi
• cessino

Related words

• recesso
• secessione
• cessare
• ritirata

Usage notes

Cesso is also an obsolete past participle of cedere “to yield” and a shortened past participle of cessare, “far off, removed”;^[5][12][14] Boccaccio's Teseida has non però molto cesso, “but not very far away”.^[5][12][14] Guittone d'Arezzo used another cesso, a learned word from Late Latin cessus, for “end, cessation”.^[14][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
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. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 879
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
14. ^ a b c d e f g h i Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
15. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse