incolto

Forms

incolto (feminine incolta, masculine plural incolti, feminine plural incolte)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin incultus (“uncultivated; neglected”), made of the negative prefix in- (“not”) and cultus (“cultivated, tended”), the past participle of colō (“to inhabit, to cultivate”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} In Latin the adjective also meant “neglected, untidy” and “coarse, rough”.^[6] Beside the learned word, incultus survived in popular form in some dialects of northern and central Italy, together with the outcomes of dēsertus (“deserted”).^[2]

The verb colō goes back to Proto-Italic *kʷele/o- and Proto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁- (“to go round”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Accurso di Cremona's Messinese text of 1321–1337, and its first sense describes a place that is neither cultivated nor inhabited.^[8] DELI's first record of “not cultivated” is in Donato degli Albanzani, in the 14th century: Literno, luogo aspro, solitario e incolto (“Liternum, a harsh place, lonely and untilled”).^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The sense “uneducated, uncouth” is recorded early, as inculto in Boccaccio before 1375 and as incolto in Federico Frezzi before 1416.^[2][8] The sense “unkempt” is in Poliziano (inculto, 1475–1478) and in Tasso's Aminta (1573), where the nymph sees herself unadorned: Ed incolta si vide, e si compiacque / Perchè bella si vide, ancorchè incolta (“and she saw herself unkempt, and was pleased, because she saw herself beautiful, though unkempt”).^[2][9] The TLIO already has the senses “in disorder, uncombed” of hair and “careless of one's person”.^[8]

Old texts and poets kept the Latin form inculto: Boiardo writes of his country inculto solo e squallido, and Ariosto of lochi più inculti.^[6] As a noun incolto is uncultivated land, and agriculture distinguishes incolto produttivo, land that yields useful plants by itself, such as fodder or timber.^[6][3][10]

Timeline

• 1321–1337 – Accurso di Cremona uses incolto in a Messinese text.^[8]
• 14th century – Donato degli Albanzani calls Liternum incolto “untilled”.^[2][6]
• Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses inculto “uneducated”.^[2]
• Before 1416 – Federico Frezzi uses incolto “uneducated”.^[2]
• 1475–1478 – Poliziano uses inculto “unkempt”.^[2]
• 1573 – Tasso uses incolta “unadorned, unkempt” in the Aminta.^[2][9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of land: not cultivated, left fallow or wild: un campo incolto da anni.^{[3][11][12][1]}
2. Of a plant: left to grow without care, wild.^[3][11][10]
3. (figurative) unkempt, neglected, untidy: of hair, a beard or a person's appearance.^{[3][11][4][1]}
4. (figurative) Of style: unpolished, careless in form.^[3][11][10]
5. (figurative) Lacking education or culture, uneducated, uncouth: un pubblico incolto.^{[3][11][4][1]}

Noun

1. Uncultivated land: incolto produttivo, land that yields usable plants without cultivation.^[3][4][6]
2. An uneducated person.^[12][13]

Word family

• incoltamente
• incoltezza
• incoltura

Related words

• colto
• coltivare
• Latin incultus

Usage notes

The literary variant is inculto.^[11][12][4] The obsolete homograph incolto, with an open /ɔ/, is the past participle of incogliere (“to catch; to befall”), recorded from the 14th century and now rare.^{[3][13][4][14][9]}

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 i j 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 e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 7, 706
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 d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
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. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1991