scenario

Forms

scenario m (plural scenari)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin scaenārium (“place for the stage scenery”), the neuter noun of the Late Latin adjective scaenārius (“of the stage”), a learned word.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The adjective is derived from Latin scaena (“stage, scene”), which is from Ancient Greek σκηνή (skēnḗ).^[7][6][1] Wiktionary instead derives it from Italian scena + -ario.^[1] Tommaseo–Bellini found the Latin adjective in Ammianus.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, before 1665 in Lippi, is for the sheet listing the actors' entrances and the scenes, which the prompter's assistant (the buttafuori) held.^[9][8] That sense went out of use after the 18th century.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

From the sheet of entrances the word passed to the painted scenery itself, recorded in 1772 in D'Alberti.^[9] In the commedia dell'arte the scenario was the written outline of the plot on which the actors improvised.^[2][5][10] Tommaseo–Bellini also records scenario for the call boy himself.^[8]

Carducci's verse of 1890–1897 has the natural landscape that forms the background of an event, and the word came to mean any striking view.^[9][2] In film it named the script, and in the language of newspapers it now means the situation in which events are set or the way they may develop: lo scenario politico.^[2][5][11]

French took the word as scénario in 1764, German in 1802, and English in 1878.^[10] Etymonline dates English scenario “sketch of the plot of a play” to 1868 and the sense “imagined situation” to 1960, used of hypothetical nuclear wars.^[12] An earlier English form scenary is recorded from 1695.^[10][12]

Timeline

• Before 1665 – Lippi uses scenario for the sheet of entrances.^[9]
• 1764 – French scénario is recorded.^[10]
• 1772 – D'Alberti records scenario for the stage scenery.^[9]
• 1802 – German Scenario is recorded.^[10]
• 1868 – English scenario is recorded for the outline of a play.^[12]
• 1890–1897 – Carducci uses it for a natural landscape.^[9]
• 1960 – English scenario is used of an imagined situation.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (theatre, cinema) scenery, set: the backdrops and wings that make up the setting of a play or film: montare gli scenari per l'opera.^[2][3][5][1]
2. A striking natural landscape, or a real place used as the setting of a performance: lo scenario delle Alpi.^[2][3][13]
3. The place where an event happens: lo scenario di una rapina.^[2][3][13]
4. (figurative) The situation in which something happens, or a possible future course of events: uno scenario economico preoccupante.^[2][3][5][1]
5. (theatre) In the commedia dell'arte, the written outline of the plot on which the actors improvised.^[2][4][5]
6. (cinema) The script of a film.^[2][4][5]

Word family

• scenarista

Related words

• scena
• French scénario
• English scenario

Usage notes

The plural is scenari.^[1][3]

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 h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c d e f Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
11. ^ 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana