scolta

Forms

scolta f (plural scolte)^[1] The older form is ascolta.^[1][2][3] Old forms are Old Italian scolca and Old Italian scocca, the latter by assimilation, both mainly Tuscan, from Pisa and Lucca.^[4][5] The TLIO records the plurals Old Italian asculti, Old Italian ascuti and Old Italian sculti.^[6]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.^[7][5] For Nocentini it is inherited from Old Italian scolca, changed by dissimilation, which is inherited from Vulgar Latin *sculca (“scout, guard”), a noun from a Vulgar Latin verb *sculcō, the Late Latin exculcō (“to reconnoitre”), formed with ex- on Latin calcō (“to tread”).^[7] Wiktionary and the Treccani also start from the old form scolca, reshaped under the influence of ascoltare (“to listen”).^[1][2]

DELI begins from an earlier ascolta (before 1431, Andrea da Barberino), which may be a form of that verb.^[5] It notes that Migliorini and Duro, and Devoto, see the link with the verb as secondary and derive the word from a Gothic *skulka (“spy”).^[5] Devoto gives the Late Latin form, recorded from the 6th century, as sculca, from the Gothic word, crossed with ascoltare.^[8] The GDLI and Sabatini–Coletti hold the same Gothic view, and the GDLI finds sculca in Gregory the Great.^[4][9] The TLIO follows DELI.^[6]

Nocentini explains why the Gothic etymology was given up.^[7] The word was long taken as a key word of the barbarian rule in Italy, from a Gothic verb *skulkan (“to spy”), and Sabatini read the place names in *skulk-, scattered from Romagna to Calabria (among them ⟨Sgurgola⟩ in Ciociaria), as traces of the Gothic and then the Lombard conquest.^[7] But the Gothic verb is not recorded, and the Scandinavian verbs cited for it are fairly recent and first meant “to hide, to escape”.^[7] Rance, a historian of the Roman army, then showed that the scout in enemy land belonged to the imperial army and was called exculcator in Late Latin, the source of a Byzantine Greek word, so that sculca “scout”, recorded in the 6th century and in the Edict of Rothari, comes from the Vulgar Latin form of the verb exculcō.^[7] The same word is Old Spanish esculca (“spy, scout”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Sicilian of Angelo di Capua of Messina (1316–1337), where the word names a soldier on guard or patrol duty.^[6] DELI dates scocca to before 1446 (Giovanni Gherardi) and scolta to before 1536 (Marin Sanudo), with the sense “sentinel, guard”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th century the Tuscan forms named a sentry or scout: Gherardi writes of a captain who had heard sue spie o scocche (“his spies or scouts”), and a Pisan chronicle tells of men sent along the walls at night two by two per vedere e sentire (“to see and to listen”) whether anyone came near.^[4] The word also took a collective sense, the guard or garrison of a town or fortress, as in Ariosto's l'ascolta d'Agramante, Agramante's watch.^[4][2]

Tommaseo quotes a 16th-century document that sets le vedette by day against le scolte by night, and read the two words as from “to see” and “to listen”.^[10] The word has become literary and historical, used of the guards of medieval towns.^[11][12] The navy kept it for an unarmed sentry who watches and tidies the lower decks.^[11][13][12] In Italian scouting scolta is the name of a girl over sixteen or seventeen.^[11][13][14]

Timeline

• 1316–1337 – Angelo di Capua of Messina uses the word for a soldier on guard.^[6]
• c. 1362 – Zingarelli's date for the first record.^[14]
• Before 1431 – Andrea da Barberino uses ascolta.^[5]
• Before 1446 – Giovanni Gherardi writes scocca.^[5]
• Before 1536 – Marin Sanudo writes scolta.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary, historical) A sentry or guard; collectively, the body of guards: stare di scolta sulle mura.^[11][13][12]
2. (nautical) In the navy, a sentry without a rifle who watches and tidies the lower decks.^[11][13][12]
3. In scouting, a girl over sixteen (or seventeen) in the senior branch.^[11][13][14]

Related words

• ascolta
• ascoltare
• Latin calco

Usage notes

The set phrases are fare la scolta and essere di scolta, to keep guard.^[11][13] Sabatini–Coletti allows both scólta and scòlta.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
3. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
4. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 18, 128
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
7. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ 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
14. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli