scoglia

Forms

scoglia f (plural scoglie)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin spolium (“stripped-off skin, spoils”), through its neuter plural spolia, with a change of the beginning under the influence of scaglia (“scale”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The DEI, Meyer-Lübke, Treccani and Wiktionary allow for the influence of scorza (“bark, rind”) beside it, and the GDLI names both.^{[7][8][9][1][10]} The TLIO and Sabatini–Coletti call the origin uncertain.^[11][12]

Nocentini sees instead an alteration of spoglia, the regular Italian outcome of the Latin plural, by a change common in the clusters ⟨sp-⟩, ⟨st-⟩ and ⟨sk-⟩: he compares spiedo beside schidione and Tuscan scola for spola.^[13] G. Alessio proposed a crossing of the Latin plural with cōleum (“scrotum”), which DELI finds less convincing in meaning.^[2] Tommaseo had already pointed to coleus.^[14]

The Latin noun first meant the skin stripped off an animal.^[13][1] De Vaan derives it from Proto-Italic *spoli(o)- (“skin, hide”) and Proto-Indo-European *spol(H)-i(o)- (“what is split, stripped off”), probably from a root *(s)pel(H)- (“to split”).^[15] Related words are Ancient Greek σπολάς (spolás, “leather garment”), Lithuanian spãlis (“flax waste”) and German spalten (“to split”).^[15][13][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Brunetto Latini's Florentine Tesoretto, before 1274.^[11] DELI's earliest example, from B. Giamboni before 1292, has the sense “horny covering shed by reptiles when they moult”.^[2] In a passage of Giamboni quoted by the GDLI it is the skin of a living animal: a huge serpent whose scoglia durissima (very hard skin) blunted the lances thrown at it.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word named the slough shed in moulting, the skin or armour of a living snake, a single scale of a reptile, and by extension an outer covering or rind; it also appeared as a masculine, scoglio.^[11] The Old Italian translation of Palladius advises hanging a snake's slough on a peach tree to help it.^[10][14] Dante uses the masculine figuratively for the layer of sin that keeps God hidden from the souls: Correte al monte a spogliarvi lo scoglio / ch'esser non lascia a voi Dio manifesto.^[9][3][12]

Later writers kept the word in poetry: Pulci has a snake coming out of its scoglia between the stones and a giant wearing a tortoise shell as armour, and Poliziano and Ariosto use the masculine scoglio for the slough a snake has cast off.^[9][10][14] The GDLI also records it for the cast skin of the silkworm.^[10] Today the word is literary; ordinary and scientific usage say spoglia.^[9][3]

Timeline

• Before 1274 – First record, in Brunetto Latini's Tesoretto.^[11]
• Before 1276 – First record in the extended sense of an outer covering.^[16]
• Before 1292 – B. Giamboni uses scoglia for a reptile's skin.^[2]
• c. 1340 – Zingarelli's date for the word.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary) The slough, the skin shed by a snake or other reptile when it moults.^{[16][3][9][1]}
2. (literary, by extension) The outer covering of other animals, or of a fruit.^[16][9][5]
3. (figurative) A veil or layer of impurity and imperfection, as in Dante's spogliarvi lo scoglio.^{[3][12][4][9]}

Related words

• spoglia
• scaglia
• scorza
• Latin spolium

Usage notes

GRADIT has a second, obsolete scoglia meaning “rock, reef”, derived from scoglio and dated before 1294;^[16][10] Boccaccio has dietro alcune scoglie (behind some rocks).^[16][10] The GDLI calls it a variant of scoglio with a change of gender and also records it as a rocky islet and in ferire a scoglia, to run into disaster.^[10] In the sense of the slough, older writers also used the masculine scoglio.^[11][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
6. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ 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
16. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET