discorso

Forms

discorso m (plural discorsi)^[1] Old spellings include Old Italian descorso and Old Italian discurso.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin discursus (“a running to and fro”), a noun from discurrō (“to run about”), which is dis- and currō (“to run”).^[3][4][1] DEI calls it a semi-learned word and notes that in later Latin, in Macrobius, the noun had already taken the figurative sense of a talk or a treatise, the sense it has in Italian.^[5] French has the same word as French discours, recorded from the 16th century.^[5]

The Latin noun was formed from the verb with the action suffix -tus.^[6] The Italian verb discorrere continues the Latin verb in the same way, and DELI and Nocentini treat the noun under it.^[7][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Pisan translation of the treatises of Albertano da Brescia (1287–1288).^[2] In Old Italian the word still had the concrete senses of Latin: a going or running about, also of a galloping horse, the flow of a liquid, and the passing of time.^[2] Giovanni Villani writes of the dust raised “by the multitude and the running about of the horses” (per la moltitudine e discorso de’ cavalli).^[8]

Semantic evolution

Beside the physical senses, Old Italian used discorso in philosophy for the way the reasoning mind proceeds from premises to conclusions, and for an address composed by the rules of rhetoric.^[2] Dante uses it for reasoning in the Convivio, and later writers for the faculty of reason itself, discorso della ragione in Castiglione and Gelli.^[9][7] The TLIO also records discorso di lingua, a slip of the tongue.^[2] The sense “running about” fell out of use;^[8][9] Ariosto still has it, and he also uses the word for the course of a river.^[8][9]

The meaning “a speech or treatise on a subject, written or delivered in public” is recorded before 1504 in Pandolfo Collenuccio,^[7] and works were titled Discorso, as Tasso's Discorsi dell'arte poetica.^[4] Modern Italian uses the word for any spoken exposition of a thought, for a conversation, and in the plural for empty talk.^[4][10] In linguistics it names an utterance longer than a sentence, and grammar distinguishes discorso diretto and discorso indiretto, direct and reported speech.^[11][10]

Timeline

• 1287–1288 – Discorso appears in the Pisan translation of Albertano da Brescia.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses the word for reasoning.^[7][4]
• Before 1504 – Pandolfo Collenuccio uses it for a speech or treatise delivered in public.^[7]
• 16th century – French discours is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The setting out of a thought or an idea in words, and what is said in it: Non ho capito il senso del tuo discorso.^[4][10][12]
2. A conversation, a talk between people, attaccare discorso, to strike up a conversation, and cambiare discorso, to change the subject.^[4][10][11]
3. A speech or address on a subject, read or improvised in public: Il sindaco ha tenuto un discorso alla cerimonia.^[4][10][13]
4. A treatise or dissertation, also as the title of a work.^[4][12]
5. (figurative) A line of action or an approach in politics or culture that can be discussed and carried forward.^[4][10][12]
6. (plural) Idle talk, chatter: Basta con i discorsi, passiamo ai fatti.^[4][10]
7. (figurative) A matter, a question: questo è un altro discorso, that is another matter.^[4][13]
8. (linguistics) An utterance made of linked sentences, discorso diretto and indiretto, direct and reported speech, and parte del discorso, part of speech.^[4][11][10]

Word family

• discorsivo
• discorsività
• discorsetto

Related words

• discorrere
• corso
• Latin discursus
• French discours

Usage notes

Old Italian also had an adjective discorso, the past participle of discorrere, meaning “gone about” and “discussed”; it survives only in literary use.^[2][14][11]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1332
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 4, 629
9. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 382
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 4, 630