scerpare

Forms

scerpare (first-person singular present scèrpo, first-person singular past historic scerpài, past participle scerpàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old and literary variants are scerpere and scirpare.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin excerpō (“to pick out, select”), moved from the third to the first conjugation.^[3][4][1] It is made of ex- and carpō (“to pluck, gather”).^[3][4][5][6] Sabatini–Coletti, Zingarelli and Gabrielli add the influence of strappare (“to tear out”).^[7][8][9] Körting started instead from Vulgar Latin *discerpāre, beside Latin discerpō (“to tear to pieces”), and Tommaseo also compared that Latin verb.^[10][11]

According to the LEI, the Latin verb lived on only in some Gallo-Romance and Italo-Romance varieties, nearly always in the first conjugation, while rare Italian forms such as scerpere keep the old one.^[12] Old Occitan escharpir probably belongs here too.^[12] Dialect forms include Neapolitan scirpare, recorded about 1477, and forms in the dialects of Rome, the Marche and Arezzo meaning “to scrounge”, “to steal” or “to mistreat”.^[12][3]

The base verb continues Proto-Indo-European *kerp- (“to pick, pluck”), the source also of Ancient Greek καρπός (karpós, “fruit”) and of the Old English word for autumn, Old English hærfest.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini dates the verb to the second half of the 13th century.^[3] The form scerpere appears at the end of that century in Monte Andrea of Florence, for destroying one's enemies.^[12] In the Inferno (c. 1313), when Dante breaks a twig from a thorn bush that holds a damned soul, the bleeding plant cries Perché mi scerpi? (“Why do you tear me?”).^[13][12][11]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the verb was also used of objects and of abstract things: the Italian version of Caesar speaks of a palisade that cannot be torn apart, and the 1363 translation of Marsilius of Padua of rooting out injustice.^[12][11] Pulci has the reflexive for a heart that seems to tear itself from the breast (1483).^[12] Later writers used it for skinning an animal, for tearing a person to pieces, and, around 1900, for the torment of the soul.^[12]

The past participle stayed in literary use: D'Annunzio writes of uprooted roots (radici scerpate), and Montale of a single scream of scerpate esistenze (“torn-up lives”, 1931).^[12][14] The derivative scerpellare, recorded from the 13th century, came to mean turning the eyelids inside out, and scerpellato describes inflamed, everted eyelids.^[12] A learned eccerpire, to extract passages from a text, has been in use since 1956.^[12]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – Monte Andrea uses scerpere.^[12]
• c. 1313 – Dante writes Perché mi scerpi? in the Inferno.^[12][8]
• 1363 – The Florentine translation of Marsilius of Padua uses scerpare of injustice.^[12]
• 1483 – Luigi Pulci uses the reflexive scerparsi.^[12]
• 1931 – Montale writes scerpate esistenze.^[12]
• 1956 – The learned eccerpire is recorded.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, literary) To tear out, to uproot, to rend.^{[4][5][7][8][2][1]}
2. (transitive, literary, figurative) To tear apart, to wrench from one's surroundings.^[7][12]

Word family

• scerpatore
• scerpatura
• scerpellare

Related words

• carpire
• eccerpire
• Latin excerpō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 21, 1278
13. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)