liscio

Forms

liscio (feminine liscia, masculine plural lisci, feminine plural lisce)^[1] Old texts also have Old Italian lixu (Sicilian) and Old Italian lisa.^[2] GDLI records an old form Old Italian lìxio.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *līsius according to DELI and GRADIT, who see in it an expressive word, perhaps imitating the sound of a hand moving over a polished surface.^[4][5] Merlo preferred to reconstruct *līssius.^[4] Wiktionary takes the Vulgar Latin form from Ancient Greek λισσός (lissós, “smooth”).^[1] Diez had weighed the Greek word but turned it down, because Greek ⟨ss⟩ would hardly have given Romance ⟨sc⟩.^[6]

Nocentini sees a Romance formation instead: *lixus, from *lixāre (“to clean, to make smooth”), first a verb for boiling and filtering water to make lye, from Latin lixa (“hot water and ash, lye”), of the same root as liquō (“to strain”).^[7] DELI reports a similar view that starts from Medieval Latin lixāre (“to smooth”), which Alessio took for a Greek loan and the FEW for a derivative of lix (“lye”), whose sense moved from washing with lye to smoothing around the year 800.^[4] Many dictionaries take the adjective as a shortened past participle of lisciare, ⟨lisciato⟩ reduced to ⟨liscio⟩.^{[8][9][10][11][3]} For DELI the verb is rather a derivative of the adjective.^[4]

Treccani prefers a Germanic source, Old High German *līsi, comparing German leise (“soft, quiet”).^[12] Diez and Mackel had already argued for the Germanic word, whose adverb was līso and which is Middle High German līse in the 12th–15th centuries, because Germanic ⟨ī⟩ always matches Romance ⟨i⟩.^[6]

Its Romance cognates are French lisse, Occitan lis, Catalan llis, Spanish liso and Portuguese liso.^[7][6] Wiktionary adds Sicilian lisciu, Friulian lis, Lombard lis and Romansh glisch.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the noun, in the Florentine Fiori di filosafi (1271–1275), where liscio is a cosmetic.^[2] Nocentini and Devoto–Oli date the adjective before 1320, with the sense “even to the touch, free of roughness”.^[7][10] The TLIO's first example of the adjective is a 14th-century Sicilian version of the Thesaurus pauperum.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the noun liscio was the make-up women used to smooth and colour their skin: Boccaccio speaks of money spent per liscio, and the moralists used the word for excessive care of the body.^[3][13] De Sanctis later used it for an artificial polish of style.^[12] The verb lisciare meant “to flatter” before 1311 (Giordano da Pisa) and “to caress” about 1344 (Boccaccio).^[4]

The adjective spread from surfaces to other things: the Italian Crescenzi (about 1350) has leaves “softer and smoother” than the olive's, and hair called liscio was “not curly” by 1869.^[4][3] Baldinucci used it in 1681 for work left plain rather than carved, and Salvini, before 1729, for a matter free of difficulty.^[4] Spirits served without soda or ice were lisci by 1939–1940.^[4]

A dance was called liscio before 1910 (Michelstaedter): a waltz or polka danced with the feet sliding on the floor rather than hopping.^[4] Today il liscio is also the noun for this kind of ballroom dancing.^[4][11] In football and tennis a liscio is a shot that only grazes or misses the ball.^[10][12]

Timeline

• 1271–1275 – The noun liscio “cosmetic” appears in the Florentine Fiori di filosafi.^[2]
• Before 1311 – Giordano da Pisa uses lisciare for “to flatter”.^[4]
• Before 1320 – The adjective is first recorded.^[7][10]
• About 1350 – The Italian Crescenzi describes leaves as lisce.^[4][3]
• 1681 – Baldinucci uses liscio for “plain, without ornament”.^[4]
• Before 1729 – Salvini uses it for “free of difficulty”.^[4]
• Before 1910 – Michelstaedter writes of dancing the waltz liscio.^[4]
• 1939–1940 – Palazzi records it for spirits served neat.^[4]
• 1975 – Sabatini–Coletti dates the noun for ballroom dancing.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. smooth, free of roughness or unevenness to the touch: Questo marmo è liscio come il vetro.^[5][10][8]
2. Of fabric: without ribs or raised patterns.^[5][10]
3. Of skin: without wrinkles, and of hair: straight, not curly.^[5][8]
4. Plain, without decoration: una porta liscia, senza intagli.^[5][9]
5. Of the sea: calm, without waves: liscio come l’olio.^[5][12]
6. (figurative) Free of difficulties or complications: Per ora il progetto procede liscio.^[5][11][8]
7. Of a drink: neat, without water, ice or soda, and of coffee: without milk or spirits.^[5][8][11]
8. Of water: still, not sparkling.^[5][8]
9. (figurative) Of prose or verse: fluent, flowing.^[5][11]
10. (anatomy) Of muscle fibre: without striations: muscolo liscio.^[5][11][12]
11. (mechanics) Of a constraint: without friction.^[5][12]

Noun

1. (literary, dated) A cosmetic for the face, and also excessive care of one's appearance.^[10][8][12]
2. ballroom dancing to non-syncopated music such as the waltz and polka: una serata di liscio.^[11][8][1]
3. (sports) A miss, a shot that grazes the ball or misses it altogether: fare un liscio.^[10][8][12]

Adverb

1. smoothly, without problems: Il viaggio è andato liscio.^[11][1]

Word family

• liscia
• lisciamento
• lisciare
• liscetto
• liscezza
• lisciamente
• lisciume

Related words

• lisciata
• lisciato
• liscivia
• French lisse

Usage notes

Passarla liscia is to get away with something, and liscio come l’olio is said of a calm sea or of anything that runs without a hitch.^[8][12][9] DEI also records a Tuscan liscio, a long-handled rake for drawing salt up in the boiler.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
7. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
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 e f g h i Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2248