discalzare

Forms

discalzare (first-person singular present discàlzo, first-person singular past historic discalzài, past participle discalzàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Forms in the early texts include Old Italian descalçare, Old Italian descauçar, Old Italian descolzar and Old Italian discalciato.^[2]

Etymology

For DEI and the LEI it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *discalceāre (“to take the shoes off”), from dis- and calceō (“to put shoes on”), a verb implied by Suetonius's Latin discalceātus (“unshod”).^[3][4][5] The LEI lists it among the inherited words, with forms in most old Italian dialects.^[4] Old French deschaucier is the same formation.^[3]

The Italian dictionaries treat it instead as an Italian formation: GRADIT from scalzare with the prefix di-, Devoto–Oli, Zingarelli and Treccani from calzare with dis-.^[6][7][8][9] Wiktionary gives both explanations.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Milanese poems of Bonvesin de la Riva, who died before 1315, in the sense “to take off someone's shoes or stockings”, also with a reflexive pronoun.^[2] GRADIT dates the word before 1342.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the verb for laying bare the base of a tree, a wall or a building, and for cleaning food from the teeth.^[2] Leonardo da Vinci wrote of water that undermines the foot of an embankment, and DEI dates this sense to the 16th century.^[10][3] Tommaseo quotes a translation of Saint Jerome: discuopri lo tuo velo, e discalza le tue gambe (“uncover your veil and bare your legs”).^[10]

The form discalzare is listed from the late 14th century to the Crusca of 1866, beside discalziare and discalciare (about 1492), and northern dialects keep it as Venetian descalzàr and Piedmontese descaossè.^[4] In the modern language it is obsolete or rare, and scalzare is used.^[6][7][9]

Timeline

• Before 1315 – Bonvesin de la Riva uses the verb in Milanese.^[2]
• 1318–1320 – Francesco da Barberino uses discalzare.^[4]
• About 1492 – Arienti uses discalziare and discalciare.^[4]
• 16th century – Leonardo da Vinci uses it of water undermining an embankment.^[3][10]
• 1866 – The Crusca still lists discalzare.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (archaic) To take off someone's shoes; the same as scalzare, and reflexively to take off one's own shoes.^[6][7][8][2]
2. (archaic) To lay bare the base of something; to undermine.^[8][2]

Word family

• discalzo

Related words

• scalzare
• calzare
• scalzo
• Latin calceus

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1326
4. ^ a b c d e f Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET