elusione

Forms

elusione f (plural elusioni)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word: it is borrowed from Late Latin ēlūsiō, a Late Latin noun from ēlūsus, the past participle of ēlūdō (“to elude”).^[2][3][4][1] The verb first meant “to finish playing”, from ex- and lūdō (“to play”), then “to make fun of” and “to dodge a blow in a game”.^[2]

Devoto–Oli treats it as a derivative of eludere.^[5] Devoto's short etymological dictionary saw in it a crossing of the verb with allusione.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is from F. Paoletti in 1789, with the sense “the act or effect of eluding”.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The general sense, the evading of a duty, of surveillance or of a question, is now rare.^[3][8][9] The word lives on mainly in elusione fiscale (also tributaria or d'imposta), the reduction of a tax by lawful but contrived arrangements; this differs from evasione (tax evasion), which breaks the law.^[8][5][3]

Timeline

• 1789 – F. Paoletti has the first record.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. evasion, elusion: the act of avoiding something or someone by cunning or skill: l'elusione dei controlli alla frontiera.^[7][4][8][9]
2. (law, finance) elusione fiscale: tax avoidance, lowering one's taxes by means that are formally lawful, as opposed to evasione.^[5][3][8]

Related words

• eludere
• elusivo
• illusione
• allusione
• Latin ēlūdō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ 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)
9. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli