scanno

Forms

scanno m (plural scanni)^[1] An older spelling is Old Italian scamno.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin scamnum (“stool, bench”).^[3][4][5][1] Nocentini calls the word pan-Romance: Old French eschame, Occitan escan, Spanish escaño, Portuguese escanho, Sardinian iscannu and Romanian scaun continue the same Latin noun.^[4][6][7] In Romanian the word came to mean “chair”.^[6][7]

According to Nocentini the Latin word first meant “support, prop”.^[4] It is traced to Proto-Italic *skaβnom and to a root Proto-Indo-European *skabʰ- (“to hold up, support”), whose relatives include Sanskrit स्कम्भ (skambhá, “prop, support, pillar”).^[1][4] De Vaan is more cautious: if the word is related to the Indo-Iranian verb for “prop up”, it can be reconstructed as *skm̥bʰ-no- “support”.^[8] He lists scabellum (“low stool”) as a derivative.^[8] Nocentini derives sgabello from the same Latin word, and finds the root also in the Greek word behind scettro.^[4] DEI compares scagno, a form of the same word.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the first record before 1320, and DEI puts it in the 13th century, with the sense of a wooden seat or bench.^[5][6] DELI's first dated quotation is the Italian translation of Crescenzi's treatise on agriculture, about 1350, where walnut wood is praised for making fine and lasting seats.^[3][2] As a place name, Scanno is recorded in Tuscany from the 11th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word named a seat of some dignity, alone or in a row, such as a throne, a judge's bench or a choir stall.^[3][2] Dante used it figuratively for rank: in the Paradiso the “different seats” of the blessed make a sweet harmony among the heavenly spheres.^[9][10] Tommaseo noted that by the 19th century the plain sense of “a seat to sit on” was no longer used, and the word kept its solemn tone.^[9]

At sea the word took on the sense of a sand bank: a Venetian Latin document of 1308 already has scani sive fari, and DEI dates the nautical use to the 15th century.^[11][6] In the north scanno is still a bar of sand and silt at the mouth of a river or along the coast.^[12][13][10] Another old sense was the bench of the rowers of a galley, or the captain's bench and cabin.^[6][10] In the old ball game palla da scanno, the forerunner of tamburello, the scanno was the bat the players struck the ball with.^[10]

Timeline

• 11th century – Scanno is recorded as a place name in Tuscany.^[6]
• 1308 – A Venetian Latin document has scani in the sense of sand banks.^[11]
• Before 1320 – First record of the word, as a seat.^[5]
• About 1350 – The Italian translation of Crescenzi uses scanni for seats made of walnut.^[3]
• 15th century – DEI dates the nautical sense “sand bank”.^[6]
• 16th century – Scanno is also the rowers' bench of a galley.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A seat of solemn appearance, often with a back and arms, reserved for people holding an office, alone or in a row, as in a parliament, a court or a choir: Il giudice tornò al suo scanno.^{[5][12][13][10]}
2. (figurative, literary) rank, position, a high place in society.^{[5][12][14][15]}
3. (uncommon) A stool or bench.^[5][13]
4. (regional, northern) A sandbar near the coast or at the mouth of a river, built up by alluvial deposits; a barra di foce.^{[5][12][14][10]}
5. (historical) The bat used in the old ball game palla da scanno.^[5][10]

Word family

• scannello

Related words

• sgabello
• scagno
• Latin scamnum

Usage notes

Scanno is close in meaning to scranno and seggio.^[12][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 17, 811
3. ^ a b c d 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3370
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d e f g Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 881
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli