ischio

Forms

ischio m (plural ischi)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word: it is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἰσχίον (iskhíon, “hip joint; hip bone”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Greek word is of unknown origin.^[2][6] It had passed into Latin as the neuter plural Latin ischia (“hips”), which Gellius, writing before 175 AD, uses in place of coxae.^[2][7] Zingarelli takes the Italian word from this Latin plural.^[6] The DEI points to French ischion, used in the 16th century by Paré, as the model of the anatomical term.^[8]

The same Greek word gave Spanish isquion.^[3] It is also the source of sciatico.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in the anatomy of O. Rucellai, before 1673, who names one of the three bones of the pelvis ischio and adds that it is popularly called osso scio.^[2][9] The word meant then, as now, one of the bones of the pelvis.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

The word also meant the region of the hip around the bone: Redi's medical Consulti speak of a sciatica of the left ischio and of the “aching ischio”.^[9] In modern anatomy and zoology it is the ventral and posterior of the three paired bones of the pelvic girdle of the tetrapods, which in humans fuses with the ileo and the pube to form the hip bone.^[4][5][10]

The derivative ischialgia, pain along the sciatic nerve, is recorded from 1828, and ischiatico from the 16th century.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1585 – Zingarelli's date for the first record of ischio.^[6]
• 16th century – The adjective ischiatico is recorded.^[3]
• Before 1673 – O. Rucellai uses ischio for the pelvic bone.^[2]
• 1828 – Ischialgia is first recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy, zoology) The ischium: one of the three paired bones of the pelvic girdle of tetrapods, which with the ilium and the pubis forms the hip bone in humans: una frattura dell’ischio destro.^{[4][5][11][10]}

Word family

• ischialgia
• ischiatico

Related words

• sciatico
• sciatica
• Ancient Greek ἰσχίον (iskhíon)

Usage notes

A separate ischio (also ischia) is a variant of eschio, a name of oaks such as the pedunculate oak, and in some regions also of privet.^[4][10][1] It is recorded from about 1340 in the vernacular Palladius and in a Perugian statute of 1342, and comes from Latin aesculus, a kind of oak.^[12][13][8] Körting, after Ascoli, notes that the oak word has nothing to do with the name of the island of Ischia.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
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. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2111
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. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 1137
13. ^ Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
14. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh