scialare

Forms

scialare (first-person singular present sciàlo, first-person singular past historic scialài, past participle scialàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin exhālō (“to breathe out”), the popular outcome of the Latin verb that Italian also borrowed as esalare.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Latin verb is formed from ex- (“out”) and hālō (“to breathe”).^[6][7][1] De Vaan, following Schrijver, takes this as an early verb from a noun Proto-Italic *anaslo- (“breath”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂enh₁-slo- (“a breathing”).^[8] The Latin ⟨ex-⟩ became /ʃ/ in the popular form.^[5]

The LEI finds popular outcomes of the Latin verb only in Italian, in a dialect of the Yonne, in Occitan chala and in Catalan xalar (1805).^[5] Nocentini, by contrast, finds no sure parallels.^[3] The sense passed from “breathe out, let out” to “spend freely, squander”.^{[9][10][3][11]} The verb scialacquare is generally linked to it, perhaps crossed with sciacquare or acqua.^[5][12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Cavalca's Specchio de' peccati, a Pisan text of about 1340, of a gas given off by a solid or liquid.^[14] Figuratively it meant an inner state bursting out in words and deeds, and also something losing its substance and dissolving.^[14] DELI notes that the sense “exhale” was in use only until the early 15th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Segneri still used the reflexive in 1694 for cooling down and breathing more freely in the heat, and in Siena the verb came to mean panting with thirst.^[2][15] The modern sense appears in 1726 in Salvini, who explains that esalare gave la popolesca voce scialare, “to have a good time”.^[2][11][16] From there it came to mean living in comfort and spending freely, and as a transitive verb squandering.^[2][5] The noun scialo followed, “pomp” in Bellini (before 1704) and “waste” in Fagiuoli (before 1742), as did scialone, a spendthrift.^[2][3]

The word is common in the south too: Neapolitan has scialare “to be happy”, and Sicilian çialari.^[12][5] It is often used in the negative: c'è poco da scialare means there is no room for waste.^[9][7][17] The pronominal scialarsela means to have a fine time.^[7][18][11]

Timeline

• About 1340 – Cavalca uses scialare of a gas given off.^[14]
• Before 1597 – Soderini uses it for letting something flow.^[2]
• 1694 – Segneri uses the reflexive for cooling down in the heat.^[2]
• Before 1704 – scialo “pomp” is recorded.^[2]
• 1726 – Salvini records scialare “to have a good time, spend freely”.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To live in luxury, spending freely and without a thought for one's means; often in the negative: c'è poco da scialare, money is tight.^{[6][9][4][7][17]}
2. (transitive, uncommon) To squander money: Ha scialato l'eredità in due anni.^[6][9][7][1]
3. (pronominal, scialarsela) To have a fine time, to enjoy oneself.^[7][18]

Word family

• scialo
• scialone
• scialacquare
• scialamento
• scialatore
• scialoso

Related words

• esalare
• Latin exhālō

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 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 d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b 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 Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 22, 226
6. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ 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 c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
10. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ 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. 18, 13
12. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
14. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
15. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3394
16. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
17. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
18. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli