desio

Forms

desio m (plural desii)^[1] The variant disio is the form of Dante, and desio the form of Guittone and Petrarch that later usage kept.^[2][1] Spellings in the early texts include Old Italian dizio, Old Italian dixio and the southern Old Italian disiu.^[3]

Etymology

In DELI's account it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *desēdium, at first “erotic desire”, a neuter beside Latin dēsidia (“idleness, sloth”), which was thought to lead to lust.^[4][5] Nocentini starts from *desidium, with the vowel of the Latin noun.^[6] The LEI reports Castellani's view that Sicilian disiu comes from the form with short ⟨i⟩, and Old Occitan dezieg and Catalan desig from the form with long ⟨ē⟩.^[2] Wiktionary cites the Early Medieval Latin dēsideus (“desire”) of a glossary from Italy.^[1]

The Latin noun comes from dēsideō (“to sit idle”), from dē- and sedeō (“to sit”).^[4][6] Already in Plautus it could mean debauchery, and Wiktionary allows for the influence of dēsīderium (“desire”).^[1][2] Nocentini explains the change of meaning by the old idea that idleness breeds the wish for pleasure.^[6] The simple verb is from Proto-Indo-European *sed-eh₁- (“to be seated”).^[7]

The same word is Spanish deseo and Portuguese desejo.^[6][8] Settegast first proposed this source, against Diez's dissidium.^[2] Prati found the reconstructed form without a secure basis in Latin.^[9] The TLIO calls the etymology uncertain and also cites a Vulgar Latin *desirium.^[3] Devoto derived it from dezire crossed with desiderio.^[10]

DEI noted that the word does not have Tuscan phonetics and may come from the south.^[8] The TLIO takes it as native in Sicilian and carried to the rest of Italy by the lyric poetry of the 13th century.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Giacomo da Lentini, of the Sicilian school, before 1250, in the sense “desire”: Amor è uno desio che ven da core (“Love is a desire that comes from the heart”).^[4][3][11]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian desio was above all the impulse of love, and also a natural instinct, a person's complete power over someone (avere in desio qualcuno), and joy or eagerness, as in con gran desio.^[3] Dante uses disio for the thing or the person desired: ov'è 'l disio de li occhi miei?^[2][12] Petrarch and the later poets kept the word for desire: Sì traviato è 'l folle mi' desio.^[11]

Derivatives appeared with the noun: desiare and desioso are in Giacomo da Lentini, desiore in Jacopone, desianza in Cino da Pistoia.^[4][8][9] Today desio is literary, and in familiar speech it means a delight, often ironically.^[12][13][14]

Timeline

• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses desio, desiare and desioso.^[4][3]
• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses the form desio.^[2]
• About 1319 – Dante uses disio for the desired object or person.^[2]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses desio.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary) desire, longing.^{[12][15][13][16]}
2. (literary) The object or person desired.^[12][15][5]
3. (colloquial) A delight, a pleasure, often ironic: Che desio questo freddo!^[15][13][16]

Word family

• desiare
• desioso
• desiore

Related words

• disio
• desiderio
• desidia
• sedere
• Spanish deseo

Usage notes

Desio is also the first person singular present of the literary verb desiare “to desire”.^[4] In Venetian and Friulian desìo means a great quantity or a ruin, as in far un desìo “to wreak havoc”, a word of unclear origin perhaps taken from the Italian noun.^[17] Desio is also a comune of Monza, in Lombardy.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 1394
3. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1261
9. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 371
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ 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
16. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Marcato, Carla (1998), I dialetti italiani: dizionario etimologico, Torino: UTET, p. 226