pericolo

Forms

pericolo m (plural pericoli)^[1] Old and literary forms are periclo and periculo;^[2][3][4] GDLI also lists perico, perigo and perigolo.^[2][3][4] The inherited form is archaic periglio.^[1][5]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin perīculum (“trial, attempt; risk, danger”).^{[6][7][8][2][1]} The Latin noun first meant “trial, test”, then “risk”, and finally “danger”, a shift that was probably helped by its likeness to pereō (“to perish”).^[6][9][3][4] It was formed with the instrumental suffix -culum on a verb *perīrī “to try”, known only through perītus (“experienced”) and experior (“to try, test”).^{[7][10][11][8]} Devoto and the OLD compare Ancient Greek πεῖρα (peîra, “trial, attempt”), and Wiktionary gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *perh₃- (“to go through, attempt”).^[10][11][1]

The word entered the other Romance languages too, mostly in half-learned forms: French péril, Catalan perill, Spanish peligro and Portuguese perigo.^[9][7][12] Romanian, which lacks an old form, borrowed Romanian pericol from Italian.^[9][1] The inherited Italian form is the archaic periglio, a doublet of “pericolo”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Bono Giamboni, before 1292, with the sense “a circumstance or situation that can cause serious harm”.^[6] Giamboni writes that Christian Faith “took counsel with her wise men about what was to be done in so great a danger as had befallen her in this war” (pigliò consiglio da' suoi savi che fosse da fare sopra tanto pericolo quanto in questa guerra le era incontrato).^[4] Zingarelli dates the word to about 1261.^[13]

Semantic evolution

Dante has the poetic form in the Paradiso: “Solea creder lo mondo in suo periclo” (the world used to believe, to its peril), which Sabatini–Coletti cite for a literary sense “error, going astray”.^[3][14] The adjective pericoloso is found from before 1294 in Guittone d'Arezzo, as periculoso, and pericolante from before 1348, applied to buildings about to collapse from before 1755.^[6]

Benedetto Varchi used the word before 1565 for a mere chance or likelihood, the sense of colloquial non c'è pericolo “there is no chance”, which Tommaseo described in 1871 as said mostly ironically of a good deed nobody expects someone to do.^[6] Pericolo giallo “yellow peril” is a calque of German die gelbe Gefahr, a phrase coined by Wilhelm II in 1900.^[9][4] Pericolosità is first recorded in 1912, in a work on criminal law, and spericolato “reckless” in 1922.^[6][7]

Timeline

• About 1261 – Zingarelli's date for the word.^[13]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses pericolo and pericolare.^[6]
• Before 1294 – Periculoso in Guittone d'Arezzo.^[6]
• Before 1348 – Pericolante “in danger” in Giovanni Villani.^[6]
• Before 1565 – Benedetto Varchi uses the word for “likelihood”.^[6]
• 1900 – Wilhelm II coins the phrase that Italian renders pericolo giallo.^[9][4]
• 1912 – Pericolosità is first recorded.^[6]
• 1922 – Spericolato is first recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. danger: a circumstance or situation from which serious harm may come: Durante la tempesta i pescatori erano in pericolo.^{[8][2][3][13]}
2. Used as an interjection to warn of a danger or an emergency: Pericolo!^[8]
3. A person or thing that may cause harm; a threat: Quel cane è un pericolo per i bambini del quartiere.^{[8][2][3][13]}
4. (colloquial) Likelihood, chance, mostly in negative sentences: Non c'è pericolo che si scusi. As a reply, Non c'è pericolo! means “no way!”^{[8][2][3][15]}

Word family

• pericoloso
• pericolosità
• pericolante
• pericolare
• spericolato
• spericolatezza

Related words

• periglio
• rischio
• Latin periculum
• French péril

Usage notes

Common phrases are in pericolo (in danger), fuori pericolo (out of danger), in pericolo di vita (in danger of one's life), pericolo pubblico (a public menace, also jokingly of a reckless person) and a proprio rischio e pericolo (at one's own risk).^{[8][2][13][15][4]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
5. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2853
10. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana