oppio

Forms

oppio m (plural oppi)^[1] The older spelling was Old Italian opio.^[2][3] An older and dialect variant is alloppio, with the article fused to the noun.^[3][4][5]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin opium,^[3][6][1] from the medical Ancient Greek ὄπιον (ópion, “poppy juice”), a derivative of ὀπός (opós, “juice”).^[3][7][8] Wiktionary traces the Greek word to Proto-Indo-European *sokʷos (“juice, resin”).^[1] The DEI says the word came in through medicine but became half-popular, as Old Corsican allopiu shows,^[9][10] and Prati says it was brought in by the apothecaries.^[11] The same Latin word gave French opium and Spanish opio and spread through the European languages.^[7]

The spelling long wavered: in the 18th century writers still used both Old Italian opio and the double consonant, and Gherardini used the two spellings to separate the narcotic, with one ⟨p⟩, from the tree, with two.^[3] The variant alloppio gave the verb alloppiare.^[3][7] Filippo Sassetti's form anfione came through Arabic, which had rendered the Greek word.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Florentine translation of the Antidotarium Nicolai from the end of the 13th century, followed by the Milione at the start of the 14th: the juice of the poppy, with sedative, pain-killing and narcotic effects.^[2] DELI's first dates are opio in Zucchero Bencivenni (1310) and oppio in Francesco Balducci Pegolotti (before 1347).^[3]

Semantic evolution

Medieval pharmacy named kinds of the drug, such as oppio tebaico (Theban opium).^[2] The verb oppiare, to drug someone with opium, appears about 1350 in Pietro de' Crescenzi's translation, and Sercambi speaks of polvere oppiata, opium powder, about 1400.^[3] Oppiaceo is recorded in 1834, and Gramsci used it figuratively for “boring” about 1933.^[3] The later oppiomane (1916–1920, De Pisis) and oppiomania depend on French opiomane and opiomanie.^[3]

The figurative sense, whatever dulls the mind or creates illusions, is best known from the phrase l'oppio dei popoli, Marx's “opium of the people”.^[6][4][12] Gramsci thought this use was inspired by French, but DELI, after Serianni, notes earlier metaphors of the same kind in Italian, such as one of 1797 comparing superstition to opium for the unhappy.^[3] The guerra dell'oppio is the first Anglo-Chinese war of 1840–1842.^[8]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – A Florentine translation of the Antidotarium Nicolai uses the word.^[2]
• 1310 – Zucchero Bencivenni writes opio.^[3]
• Before 1347 – Francesco Balducci Pegolotti writes oppio.^[3][6]
• About 1350 – Oppiare “to drug with opium” appears in Pietro de' Crescenzi's translation.^[3]
• 1618 – Oppiato is recorded as a noun for a medicine containing opium.^[3]
• 1797 – Superstition is compared to opium for the unhappy.^[3]
• 1834 – Oppiaceo is first recorded.^[3][7]
• 1916–1920 – Filippo De Pisis uses oppiomane.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. opium: the dried latex taken by cutting the unripe capsules of certain poppies, above all the opium poppy, rich in alkaloids such as morfina, used in medicine and as a drug.^[6][13][12] By extension, the plant itself.^[6][13][12]
2. (figurative) Whatever dulls the mind, brings forgetfulness or creates illusions: Per lui la televisione è l'oppio delle serate.^[6][13][4]

Word family

• oppiaceo
• oppiare
• oppiato
• oppiomane
• oppiomania
• alloppiare
• oppioide

Related words

• alloppio
• Latin opium

Usage notes

GRADIT lists a separate regional oppio (14th century), the field maple and in Tuscany the black poplar, from Latin opulus.^[6][7][8] Wiktionary treats it as a variant of loppio, and the TLIO's first record of it is from Restoro d'Arezzo (1282).^[1][2] Varro gives Latin opulus as a word of the Milanese, so it may be Celtic.^[14][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2663
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 711
12. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ 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
14. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill