corsoio

Forms

corsoio m (plural corsoi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin cursōrius (“of running; that runs”), from cursor (“runner”), the agent noun of currō (“to run”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} Devoto notes the regular Tuscan change of the ending -ōrius to ⟨-oio⟩.^[7] The learned doublet is cursorio.^[1] The TLIO derives the word instead from corso, and the noun “corridor” of 14th-century Pistoia goes back to the Late Latin cursōrium of the land surveyors.^[8][9]

The Latin word also survives in Old French coursoir “reel, winch” and in Sardinian words for a sewer and a district.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is an adjective in Guido da Pisa's Fatti di Enea, from the first half of the 14th century, said of ties and knots that slide: “running”, like a slip knot.^[8] A Pistoia document of 1354 has the noun.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century at Pistoia the noun meant a corridor, a sense DELI knows only from a Pistoiese chronicle cited by Tommaseo.^[9][11] The adjective entered the dictionaries with the first Crusca in 1612, which quotes an old manuscript; it remained a rarer form of scorsoio, as in D'Annunzio's cappio corsoio (running noose).^[11][3][6]

From 1905 the noun names the sliding part of a gauge, which Panzini records under French coulisse.^[11] In modern mechanics it is the guide of a part moving back and forth, and the sliding cursor of measuring instruments and of the slide rule.^[12][5][13]

Timeline

• 1300–1350 – Guido da Pisa uses corsoio of a running knot.^[8]
• 1354 – A document from Pistoia has the noun corsoio.^[8]
• 1612 – The first Crusca dictionary records the adjective.^[11][3]
• 1905 – Panzini records corsoio for the sliding part of a gauge.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (rare, literary) Of a knot or noose: running, sliding, the same as scorsoio: nodo corsoio.^{[3][4][12][13]}

Noun

1. (mechanics) A slide: a guide in which a rod or part with reciprocating motion runs.^[12][5][14]
2. The movable part of a measuring or calculating instrument, with an index or scale; the cursor of a slide rule: calibro a corsoio.^{[4][5][13][3]}
3. (obsolete) A corridor.^[11][9]

Related words

• cursorio
• cursore
• correre
• corso

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
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 c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 854
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 119
8. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1125
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
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. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli