scadere

Forms

scadere (first-person singular present scàdo, first-person singular past historic scàddi, past participle scadùto, first-person singular future scadrò, auxiliary èssere)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *excadēre (“to fall down, fall away”), a compound of ex- (“out”) and *cadēre, the Vulgar Latin form of Latin cadō (“to fall”) that also gave cadere.^[2][3][1] The verb is not attested in classical Latin: Meyer-Lübke reconstructed it from its many Romance outcomes, and in classical Latin the same compound appears with the vowel reduced, as excidō (“to fall out, fall away”).^[4][5][6] Wiktionary notes that Medieval Latin excadere turns up in the 13th century, either from Romance or formed anew.^[1]

The same verb is French échoir (“to fall due; to fall to someone”), Occitan escazer, Catalan escaure, Portuguese esquecer (“to forget”) and Romanian scădea (“to decrease”).^[3][5][4] The Spanish form escaecer is old or dialectal, and Sardinian has iscadire.^[4][3] The French, Occitan and Iberian forms keep the initial ⟨e-⟩, while all the Italian ones have lost it.^[4] The LEI also allows for a form Vulgar Latin *excadere stressed on the root, since a form with the stress on the first syllable is the most common type in the northern dialects.^[4]

The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Italic *kad-e/o-; de Vaan gives a possible Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂d- (“to fall”) with a question mark.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest Italian record is Florentine: in 1310 Bencivenni uses ischadere for fluids running or flowing down.^[8] The sense “to lose value, esteem or strength” appears in the 14th-century Italian translation of Livy: “già comincia ad iscadere” (“it is already beginning to decline”).^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the verb for things that befall someone, “to happen”, and for property that falls to an heir.^[10][11] Dino Compagni writes of a dispute that “era scaduta” between him and the Sienese.^[12] Both senses are now obsolete.^[12][13] In Florence, Varchi noted, a merchant who had gone bankrupt or a gentleman who had lost his credit was said to be scaduto, as in Venice.^[14]

The commercial sense “to fall due, to expire” is first recorded in Anton Maria Salvini in 1715 and in a 1779 instruction for chancery clerks about “debitori di somme scadute” (“debtors of sums that have fallen due”).^[2] The derivative scadenza followed in 1777 and became the ordinary word for a deadline or due date.^[2] German took scadiren as a commercial term in 1839, and its own verfallen took the sense as a semantic calque.^[15] The modern use for food and medicines that pass their use-by date extends the same sense.^[6][16]

From 1538 sailors used scadere for a ship drifting sideways under wind or current.^[2] The present participle scadente has meant “of poor quality” since 1600.^[2]

Timeline

• 1310 – Bencivenni uses ischadere of fluids flowing from the body.^[8]
• 14th century – The translation of Livy uses scadere for “to decline”.^[2]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses the noun scadimento.^[2]
• 1538 – The nautical sense “to drift sideways” is recorded.^[2]
• 1600 – Davanzati uses scadente for “of poor quality”.^[2]
• 1715 – Anton Maria Salvini uses scadere for a term that runs out.^[2]
• 1777 – Scadenza “due date” is recorded in the Leopoldine edicts.^[2]
• 1839 – German scadiren is recorded as a commercial term.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To decline, to lose value, quality, importance or esteem: Dopo quello scandalo è scaduto agli occhi di tutti.^[6][12][17]
2. (intransitive) Of a bill, contract or payment, to fall due: L'affitto scade alla fine del mese.^[6][16]
3. (intransitive) Of a document, permit or period of time, to expire, run out: Il tuo passaporto scade a giugno.^[6][16][18]
4. (intransitive) Of food or medicine, to pass its use-by date: Lo yogurt è scaduto da due giorni.^[6][16]
5. (nautical) Of a ship, to drift sideways under wind or current; also, to fall behind another ship.^[12][11]
6. (obsolete) To happen, befall.^[6][12]
7. (obsolete, law) To fall to someone by inheritance.^[6][18]

Word family

• scadenza
• scadente
• scaduto
• scadimento
• scadenzario
• scadenzare

Related words

• cadere
• decadere
• accadere
• French échoir

Usage notes

Scadere is conjugated like cadere and takes essere.^[16][12] Zingarelli contrasts it with decadere, a fall from prosperity into poverty and weakness, and declinare, a waning of strength as well as value.^[12] GDLI has a separate old Emilian noun scadere or scadore “itch”, of uncertain origin, perhaps related to scabbia.^[19]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 21, 1016
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 21, 1019
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3361
11. ^ a b 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 d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 17, 734
15. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
16. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
17. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
18. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
19. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 17, 736