scoglio

Forms

scoglio m (plural scogli, diminutive scogliétto, pejorative scogliàccio)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian scoio, Old Italian scogio, Old Italian scollio and Old Italian iscoglio, and a feminine Old Italian scoglia.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ligurian scogiu, the Genoese word, adapted to Tuscan.^[4][5][6][2] This continues Vulgar Latin *scoculum, a form of Latin scopulus (“rock, cliff”) with /k/ for /p/.^[5][1][7] Why the /p/ changed is unclear: it may be assimilation to the first /k/, or an exchange of the rare ending for the common -culus.^[1][7] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek σκόπελος (skópelos, “lookout place, peak”).^[4][5][1][8] Nocentini derives it from the root of σκέπτομαι (sképtomai, “to look”), a prominent rock from which one keeps watch.^[5]

The same word is Old Occitan escolh, from which French écueil, and Catalan escull.^[5][7] Nocentini and Wiktionary take Spanish escollo and Portuguese escolho from Italian, while Meyer-Lübke treats the Portuguese word as native and the Spanish one as borrowed from it.^[5][1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first records are in Bonagiunta Orbicciani, in the middle of the 13th century, and Guinizzelli, before 1276.^[2] DELI gives the Genoese scoio of the Anonimo genovese, in the 13th century, who sees a man fishing sun un scoio a la marina (“on a rock by the sea”).^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Dante (1310–1313) uses scoglio both for a rock in the sea and for a steep crag.^[4] In the Inferno a diver goes down to free an anchor caught on scoglio o altro che nel mare è chiuso (“a rock or something else hidden in the sea”).^[3] Petrarch and Boccaccio use it for the rocks that wreck ships, and Boccaccio's fisherwoman goes di scoglio in iscoglio gathering shellfish.^[9]

The figurative sense “obstacle” is recorded from 1809–1810, and Tommaseo–Bellini (1871) has it for difficulties met in life or in reading an author.^[4] scogliera is recorded from the 13th century, in nautical charts, and scoglioso before 1311.^[4] Geology uses scoglio tettonico for the German Klippe.^[10] German borrowed the word as early as 1434.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – Bonagiunta Orbicciani uses scoglio.^[2]
• 13th century – The Anonimo genovese writes scoio.^[4]
• Before 1276 – Guinizzelli uses the word.^[2]
• Before 1311 – Giordano da Pisa uses scoglioso.^[4]
• 1310–1313 – Dante uses scoglio for a sea rock and a crag.^[4]
• 1434 – German borrows the word.^[11]
• 1809–1810 – The sense “obstacle” is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rock that rises out of or just breaks the surface of the sea, a lake or a river, usually near the shore, a reef: pesce di scoglio (fish living among rocks).^[6][12][10]
2. (literary) A steep crag or cliff.^[6][12][13]
3. (figurative) A serious obstacle or difficulty: Per lei il latino resta lo scoglio più duro.^[6][12][14]
4. (geology) In scoglio tettonico, a klippe.^[10][6]

Word family

• scogliera
• scoglioso
• scoglietto

Related words

• Latin scopulus
• French écueil

Usage notes

An obsolete literary scoglio “slough, the cast skin of a snake” is the masculine of scoglia.^[6][15] Ariosto has a snake del nuovo scoglio altiero (“proud of its new skin”), and Dante, figuratively, souls who must spogliarvi lo scoglio of sin.^[6] Wiktionary traces it to Latin spolium (“stripped-off hide”), influenced by scaglia or scorza, while Körting doubts the link with spoglia.^[1][16]

The diminutive is scoglietto, the pejorative scogliaccio.^[14][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ 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, 107
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
12. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 18, 109
16. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh