rasoio

Forms

rasoio m (plural rasoi)^[1] Older and dialect forms include Old Italian rasor, rasore, rasoro and rasuro;^[2][3] rasore and rasoro were still in use in the 19th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin rāsōrium, formed from rāsus (“scraped, shaved”), the past participle of rādō (“to scrape, shave”).^[2][4][5][1] The Latin noun is recorded from the 5th century AD, with the suffix that forms names of tools; in the glosses it still meant “a place where something is shaved”.^[1][6] Latin ⟨-ōrium⟩ gave the regular Tuscan ending ⟨-oio⟩.^[7]

DEI does not rule out a borrowing from Old French rasour, the source of the English word razor; the GDLI sees the influence of the French form only in the variants rasore and rasoro.^[6][3] The Late Latin word replaced Latin novācula (“razor”) and gave French rasoir, Occitan razor, Catalan rasor, Friulian razor and Sicilian rasolu; Spanish rasero means a strickle.^[8][4]

De Vaan traces the Latin verb to the stem Proto-Italic *rasd-.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the form rasor in the northern Proverbia que dicuntur super natura feminarum of 1152–1160, followed by Uguccione da Lodi at the start of the 13th century;^[2] rasoio itself is in the Fiore (1280–1310), for the very sharp steel knife without a point used to shave the beard and hair.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The traditional razor folds its blade into the handle; the rasoio di sicurezza “safety razor”, a calque of English safety razor, is found in an advertisement of 1911, and DEI dates it to 1892.^[2][3] The rasoio elettrico is recorded in 1949, and later came the disposable rasoio usa e getta.^[2][10]

Figurative uses compare a sharp tongue to a razor (avere una lingua che taglia come un rasoio) and a risky position to its edge (camminare sul filo del rasoio).^[5][11] An old proverb spoke of hiding the razor under the cloak with a smile on the lips, of a hypocrite.^[11] The philosophical rasoio di Occam, Ockham's razor, is the principle of eliminating hypotheses that are not needed.^[10][11]

Timeline

• 1152–1160 – Rasor appears in the Proverbia super natura feminarum.^[2]
• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses rasor.^[2]
• 1280–1310 – Rasoio appears in the Fiore.^[2]
• 1891 – The derivative rasoiata is recorded.^[4]
• 1911 – Rasoio di sicurezza appears in an advertisement.^[2]
• 1949 – Rasoio elettrico is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A razor: a tool for shaving the beard and hair, traditionally a very sharp steel blade with a rounded point folding into a handle; today also with disposable blades (rasoio di sicurezza, with a lametta) or electric: Si è fatto la barba col rasoio del nonno.^[5][12][10]
2. (figurative) Something very sharp: Quella lama è un rasoio.; of a person, avere una lingua come un rasoio “to have a sharp, malicious tongue”.^[5][13]

Word family

• rasoiata
• rasoiare

Related words

• radere
• raso
• rasare
• Latin rādō

Usage notes

Sul filo del rasoio “on the razor's edge” describes a risky, precarious situation.^[5][12][13] The stressed vowel is closed, and the s is pronounced voiced or voiceless.^[12][1] A separate, northern rasoio meaning “vine cutting”, derived from Latin rasilis with a change of suffix, is recorded in Ca' da Mosto.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 15, 512
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3210
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 15, 513