cupo

Forms

cupo (feminine cupa, masculine plural cupi, feminine plural cupe)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][3] DELI and Zingarelli bring it close to Latin cūpa (“cask, barrel”), and Nocentini derives it from that word with the basic sense “hollow, deep”.^[4][5][6] Devoto–Oli and Gabrielli take it to be inherited from Vulgar Latin *cūpus, linked to cuppa (“cup”) and cūpa through the idea of an empty space;^[7][8][9] Devoto sees in the single ⟨p⟩ the adjective, beside the noun with ⟨pp⟩.^[7][8][9] The Wiktionary entry calls the link to cūpa possible.^[1]

Meyer-Lübke lists the adjective under cūpa, beside French cuve (“vat”), Neapolitan cupe (“beehive”) and Tuscan cupile.^[10] He keeps it apart from the Lucchese copo (“full”), which comes from occupō (“to seize, fill”).^[10] Körting had taken the whole word for a short form of the participle of that verb.^[11]

De Vaan takes cūpa to be probably a non-Indo-European loanword, which explains its uncertain vowel length; he compares Sanskrit कूप (kū́pa, “pit, hole”) and Old English hȳf (“beehive”).^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Roman Miracole de Roma, from the middle of the 13th century, and its first sense is “deep”, of an empty space or a body of water.^[13] DELI dates the sense “deep” to Ristoro d'Arezzo (1282), who says that a mountain rang as if it were hollow inside: com'elli fosse cupo e sollo dentro.^[4][14]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word also meant hollow, empty inside; greedy, hungry; threatening and dark; and, of colours, dark.^[13] As a noun it meant depth, and Dante uses it for the depth of Hell: Non è sanza cagion l'andare al cupo.^[13][15]

Ariosto (1516) uses it for “dark, without light”, Vincenzo Borghini (before 1580) for a deep colour, and Bernardo Davanzati (before 1600) for a closed, uncommunicative character.^[4] In central and southern Italy it still means “deep” of a dish: piatto cupo is a soup plate.^[2][15] Abruzzese cupë and Neapolitan cupo are a beehive.^[16][17]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – the Roman Miracole de Roma have the first record.^[13]
• 1282 – Ristoro d'Arezzo uses it for “deep, hollow”.^[4]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for a dark, threatening state of things.^[4]
• Before 1321 – Nocentini's date for cupezza.^[6]
• 1516 – Ariosto uses it for “dark, without light”.^[4]
• Before 1580 – Vincenzo Borghini uses it for a deep colour.^[4]
• Before 1600 – Bernardo Davanzati uses it for a taciturn person.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (literary) deep: un burrone cupo.^[2][7][5]
2. dark, without light; gloomy: un vicolo cupo.^[2][7][3]
3. Of a colour, deep, dark: blu cupo.^[2][3]
4. Of a sound, low and muffled: un rumore cupo di passi.^[2][7][5]
5. (figurative) Of feelings, intense and bitter: un rancore cupo.^[2][3]
6. (figurative) Of a person or face, sullen, taciturn, brooding: era cupo da giorni.^[2][7][1]
7. (figurative) Darkly threatening, sinister: un cupo presentimento.^[2][7][5]
8. (regional, central and southern Italy) Of a vessel, deep, hollow: piatto cupo, a soup plate.^[2][5][15]

Noun

1. (literary) A dark depth;^[2][5][8] Hell.^[2][5][8]
2. (dated) A rustic beehive.^[5][8]

Word family

• cupezza
• cupamente
• incupire
• rincupire

Related words

• cupola
• coppa
• Latin cūpa

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 k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
9. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3
15. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1192
17. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 358