sconto

Forms

sconto m (plural sconti)^[1] Old forms were Old Italian scontio and escontio, recorded at Siena.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a noun formed from the verb: from Italian scontare (“to deduct from an account”), as DELI, Nocentini, GRADIT and the other Italian dictionaries agree.^{[4][5][6][7][2]} The verb itself is formed from Italian s- + conto with the prefix of removal, “to take off an account”, and is recorded from 1211.^[4][5] Conto goes back to Late Latin computus, from computō (“to reckon”).^[5] Wiktionary instead derives the noun from Latin discomputus (“calculated off”).^[1]

The Italian banking word was copied in French escompte, spelled ⟨esconte⟩ in 1597.^[8][1] It also gave German Skonto, recorded in 1672.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are Tuscan merchants' accounts: per iscontio at Siena in 1278 and per ischonto at Florence in 1321, with the sense “deduction, reduction of an amount”.^[4][6] Nocentini dates it to 1276–1279.^[5] A Sienese account of the same century has scontio for deducting money drawn from a shop.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian sconto was the reduction a creditor granted for early payment or for another reason, and the reckoning of debts against credits.^[3][2] The sense of atonement, a payment for a wrong done, follows the verb scontare “to pay for”, attested from before 1342, and survives in the phrase a sconto dei peccati.^[4][6][9]

The banking sense, the contract by which a bank advances the amount of a credit not yet due after deducting interest, is first recorded in the Milanese press in 1826.^[4][8] The tasso di sconto, the discount rate, is in the 1922 Zingarelli.^[4] In everyday use the most common sense is now a reduction in the price of goods.^[6][10] In the figurative non fare sconti it means to show no leniency.^[11]

Timeline

• 1278 – Per iscontio is recorded at Siena.^[4][6]
• 1321 – Per ischonto is recorded at Florence.^[4]
• 1597 – French esconte, later escompte, is modelled on the Italian word.^[8]
• 1672 – German Skonto is recorded.^[8]
• 1826 – The banking sense appears in the Milanese press.^[4]
• 1922 – Tasso di sconto is recorded in the Zingarelli dictionary.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (banking) discount: a contract by which a bank advances the amount of a credit not yet due, after deducting the interest; also the operation itself and the interest deducted.^{[6][10][11][9]}
2. A deduction of a sum from an account or an amount: a sconto di, in part payment of a debt.^[6][12][9]
3. A discount, a reduction in price granted by the seller, and the size of that reduction: Il negozio fa il dieci per cento di sconto agli studenti.^{[6][10][12][11]}
4. (figurative) Expiation, atonement for a wrong done: a sconto dei propri peccati.^[6][12][13]

Word family

• scontistica
• soprasconto
• supersconto
• scontista

Related words

• scontare
• conto
• French escompte
• German Skonto

Usage notes

Sconto was also used as a short past participle of scontare, meaning “paid, deducted” or “atoned for”.^[14][3] A separate Old Italian sconto meant “hiding place”, from Latin absconditus.^[14] Common phrases include sconto di cassa (a discount for cash or early payment) and tasso ufficiale di sconto, the central bank's discount rate.^[12][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 184
3. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
9. ^ a b c 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ 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
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 18, 185
15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana