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saggio

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word saggio

saggio1 wise

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1250 before 1250, Frederick II, in the form sagio
Borrowed from
Old French sage
Ultimate origin
Latin sapiō

Pronunciation

  • /ˈsad.d͡ʒo/[1]

Forms

saggio (feminine saggia, masculine plural saggi, feminine plural sagge)[1] Old forms include Old Italian sagio, Old Italian saio, Old Italian sazo and Old Italian sazzo.[2]

Etymology

The word for “wise” is borrowed from Old French sage, recorded about 1050 as savie and about 1119 in its later form;[3][4] DELI and GRADIT allow the identical Old Occitan sage as the source as well.[3][4] Nocentini, Devoto–Oli, Treccani and Wiktionary name only the French word.[5][6][7][1] The Gallo-Romance word comes from Vulgar Latin *sapius (“wise, sensible”), which is not recorded itself but is implied by its negative Latin nesapius (“foolish, ignorant”) in Petronius.[5][8] It belongs with sapiō (“to taste; to have sense, be wise”).[3][5][9] Wiktionary describes sapius as an alteration of sapidus (“tasty; wise”), perhaps remodelled on the verb with the ending of its opposite nescius (“ignorant”).[1]

The same Latin adjective gave Occitan sabi, Catalan savi, Spanish sabio and Portuguese saibo.[5][10] Italian has it a second time in savio, which Meyer-Lübke, after Bartoli, takes from Occitan;[10][1] Wiktionary also lists sapio and sapido as doublets.[10][1]

The verb goes back to Proto-Italic *sapjō; de Vaan reconstructs a PIE present *sh₁p-i- (“to notice”), from the root *seh₁p-, and compares Old High German intseffen (“to notice, taste”).[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a poem of Frederick II, who died in 1250, in the form sagio and the sense of a person who judges and acts with prudence.[3][2][4] The form saggio appears at the end of the 13th century in the Novellino.[3]

Semantic evolution

The Sicilian and Tuscan poets of the 13th century used the word for the prudent and discerning man, often in contrast to the fool, and Monte Andrea already used it as a noun, “a wise person”.[3][2] Dante calls Virgil famoso saggio and uses the word for a guide who knows the way, scorta saggia, and for someone who is aware of a thing (fatene saggi, “let us know”); these senses, like “skilled in one's art”, are now archaic.[12][4][7]

The abstract noun saggezza is first found in Luigi Alamanni in 1548.[3][13] In recent journalism a saggio is also an independent expert called on to give an opinion in a disputed matter, as in a commissione di saggi.[4][6][14]

Timeline

  • Before 1250 – Frederick II writes sagio “wise”.[3][2]
  • 13th century – Monte Andrea uses the word as a noun, “a wise person”.[3]
  • Late 13th century – The form saggio appears in the Novellino.[3]
  • 1548 – Luigi Alamanni uses saggezza.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. wise, prudent: acting and judging with good sense, balance and experience: Per la sua età è un ragazzo molto saggio.[4][6][9]
  2. Of things: showing or guided by wisdom; sensible: una scelta saggia.[4][6][9]
  3. (archaic) Skilled and expert in one's art or trade.[4][6][15]
  4. (archaic) Familiar with a place, knowing the way.[4][6]
  5. (archaic) Aware, informed of something.[4][6][1]

Noun

  1. A wise person, a sage: i sette saggi, the Seven Sages.[4][6][1]
  2. An independent expert called on to give an opinion on a disputed question.[4][6][14]

Word family

  • saggezza
  • saggiamente

saggio2 test, assay; essay

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1280
Inherited from
Latin exagium
Ultimate origin
Latin agō
Etymology tree of saggio2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin agō
French agir
Latin exigō
French exiger
Latin exagium
Italian saggio
Spanish ensayo
From the same root · saggio2
Latin abigō ← agō
Latin āctiō ← agō
Latin āctitō ← agō
Latin āctīvus ← agō
Latin āctrīx ← agō
Latin āctus ← agō
Latin adigō ← agō
Latin age ← agō
Latin agēns ← agō
Latin agilis ← agō
Latin agitō ← agō
Latin agmen ← agō
Latin agōnia ← agō
Latin ambāgēs ← agō
Latin ambigō ← agō
Latin aurīga ← agō
Latin circumago ← agō
Latin cōgō ← agō
Latin dego ← agō
Latin exāmen ← agō
Latin exīlis ← agō
Latin fatīgō ← agō
Latin indāgō ← agō
Latin nāvigō ← agō
Latin peragō ← agō
Latin prōdigō ← agō
Latin reagō ← agō
Latin redigō ← agō
Latin rēmex ← agō
Latin subigō ← agō
See all derived words →

Pronunciation

  • /ˈsad.d͡ʒo/[1]

Forms

saggio m (plural saggi)[1] Old Venetian had sazo and saçio, above all for the unit of weight.[16][10]

Etymology

The word for “test, assay” is inherited from Late Latin exagium (“weighing; balance”), with the loss of the initial vowel.[3][5][16] The Latin noun, known from the glosses, is formed from exigō (“to weigh, measure, examine”) with -ium, and the verb is ex- and agō (“to drive”).[5][1][17]

According to the LEI only the forms without the initial vowel are inherited in Italy; forms that keep ⟨e-⟩ are learned.[16] The word survives everywhere in Romance except Romanian: French essai (Old French from about 1140), Occitan essai, Catalan assaig, Spanish ensayo and Portuguese ensaio;[5][16][8] Friulian has the same short form as Italian, Friulian saz.[5][16][8] From the noun come the verbs saggiare and assaggiare, which match French essayer.[10][5]

The sense “essay, short written study” has a separate source in French and English.[5][3] Nocentini and Treccani treat it as modelled on the French word, which took this meaning from Montaigne's Essais (1580) and spread it through English essay.[5][7] DELI derives it from the older Italian word but quotes Migliorini: it was the English reading of Montaigne's title, in works such as Locke's Essay concerning Human Understanding, that made the word name the piece of writing, and Italian could give its old word the new sense, while German took over the English one.[3] DEI calls the sense a calque of the English word.[8] saggista was formed on English essayist.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Medieval Latin sazium is recorded at Bologna in 1245.[3] In Italian GRADIT dates the word to before 1280;[4][3] DELI's first record is in the statutes of the Arte di Por Santa Maria, dated with a query to the 14th century, for the testing of the quality or value of a thing.[4][3]

Semantic evolution

By Dante the word also meant a sample from which the whole could be judged, and in Giovanni Villani a test in which someone proves his worth.[3] In the early 14th century the Tuscan text of Marco Polo, Pegolotti and the Venetian Zibaldone da Canal used it as a unit of weight for precious metals, the sixth part of an ounce, a sense recorded until the 17th century.[16][10] German took this unit over as sagio (1477).[18] The verb saggiare, to assay precious metal, and saggiatore, the assayer, are of the same period.[3]

In finance saggio means a rate, as in saggio d'interesse, recorded from 1845;[16][3] Rigutini (1886) recommended it in place of tasso, which he saw as a French word.[16][3] The sense “essay” is first recorded in 1619 in Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger, and saggista, saggistica and saggistico followed in the 20th century.[3][5] Schools also give the word to a pupils' public display and to a written test.[4][9]

Timeline

  • 1245 – Medieval Latin sazium is recorded at Bologna.[3]
  • Before 1280 – First Italian record, according to GRADIT.[4]
  • 1292–1324 – Saggiatore “assayer” appears in the Ordinamenti di giustizia.[3]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses the word for a sample.[3]
  • Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it for a test of one's abilities.[3]
  • 1477 – German sagio, the unit of weight, is recorded.[18]
  • 1619 – Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger uses saggio for a written study.[3]
  • 1845 – Saggio d'interesse “rate of interest” is recorded.[16]
  • 1927 – Saggista “essayist” is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A test or examination of something to find out its qualities, properties or value.[4][6][9]
  2. An assay: the analysis of a precious metal to establish its purity.[4][6][7]
  3. (chemistry) A method of analysis, mostly qualitative: saggio alla perla, the bead test;[4][6][7] tubo da saggio, a test tube.[4][6][7]
  4. (literary) A tasting of food or drink.[4][6]
  5. A sample or specimen from which the whole can be judged; a free copy of a book or magazine (copia di saggio, in saggio).[4][6][9]
  6. A display of one's abilities: Ci ha dato un saggio della sua pazienza.[4][9]
  7. A public performance by pupils at the end of a course; a written school test: il saggio di pianoforte.[4][9]
  8. An essay: a fairly short study in prose on a particular subject: un saggio su Leopardi.[4][9][1]
  9. (economics) A rate, as in saggio d'interesse, saggio di sconto.[9][4][1]
  10. (historical) A unit of weight for precious metals, a sixth of an ounce.[18][16]

Word family

  • saggiare
  • assaggiare
  • assaggio
  • saggiatore
  • saggista
  • saggistica
  • saggistico
  • saggiavino

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 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 d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
  8. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3310
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  10. ^ a b c d e f Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  13. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 864
  14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  15. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 21, 863
  17. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  18. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Saggio.” Etymologically, 10 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/it/saggio. Accessed 10 Nov. 2026.

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