crostoso

Forms

crostoso (feminine crostosa, masculine plural crostosi, feminine plural crostose)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin crustōsus (“covered with a hard crust”), formed on crusta (“crust”) with the suffix -ōsus.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} Wiktionary notes that it can also be analysed in Italian as crosta with -oso.^[1] De Vaan traces the Latin word for “crust” to Proto-Indo-European *krus-to- (“crushed, pounded”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Oudin's dictionary of 1663, cited by Prati, and Duez's of 1664, with the sense “covered with crusts”.^[8][3] Zingarelli gives an earlier date, 1612.^[9] Nocentini and Devoto–Oli date it to the 17th century.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Early uses are scientific and medical: Baldinucci calls the best orpiment the crostoso kind, which shines like gold, and Redi describes the crusty matter of insects' stings and the crusty sores that scratching leaves on the skin.^[10][11] In the 19th century Bicchierai has erpete crostosa, a crusted herpes.^[10]

Botany uses the word for the thallus of lichens that adhere so closely to rock or bark that they look like a crust, and Sbarbaro mentions the old division of lichens into crustose, foliose and fruticose.^[3][12][10] Snow is crostosa when its surface has frozen into a crust.^[4][12] Papini used it figuratively and with contempt for what is old and mouldering.^[10]

Timeline

• 1663 – Oudin's dictionary records crostoso.^[8][3]
• 1664 – Duez's dictionary records it.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Covered with a crust or with scabs: una ferita crostosa.^[3][5][9]
2. Forming a crust on the surface: neve crostosa, snow with an icy crust.^[3][4][12]
3. (botany) Of the thallus of some lichens: adhering so closely to its surface that it looks like a crust; crustose.^[3][12][1]
4. (figurative, derogatory) Old, musty, outdated.^[10]

Related words

• crosta
• crostaceo
• crostolo
• Latin crustōsus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
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. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)