Etymologically
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scopare

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Pronunciation

  • /skoˈpa.re/[1]

Forms

scopare (first-person singular present scópo, first-person singular past historic scopài, past participle scopàto, auxiliary avére)[1] Old Italian forms include schopare and northern scovare and scoare.[2] The GDLI also lists old scoppare.[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin scōpō (“to sweep”), formed from scōpae (“twigs; broom”).[4][5][6][7][8][1][2] The verb survives across the Romance languages: Sardinian iscobare, Old French escover, Spanish escobar and Portuguese escovar;[9] Meyer-Lübke notes that it displaced Latin verrō (“to sweep”).[9]

The Latin plural scōpae first meant the branches of a plant, tied together to make a broom.[10][11] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *skōp-ā- and compares Ancient Greek σκᾶπος (skâpos, “stick”) and Latin scāpus (“stalk, shaft”), perhaps by ablaut of a root Proto-Indo-European *sk(e/o)h₂p-, though no such verbal root is attested and the words may be loans.[11] Nocentini assigns scopa to the pre-Latin substrate, its first sense being a shrub, the heather used for brooms.[5]

The sexual sense began in Rome: DELI and Nocentini call it a Romanesco word, found in a Florentine–Romanesco glossary of the late 17th century and in G. G. Belli in 1831.[4][5][12] Nocentini compares metaphors such as “to dust off” and “to remove the rust”.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Cremonese poet Uguccione da Lodi, early in the 13th century.[2] In the oldest texts the verb means to beat with a whip or scourge, also as a public punishment in which the condemned was lashed along a route;[2][4] DELI finds this use in the Novellino at the end of the 13th century.[2][4] Boccaccio has a lady threatened that she will be scopata (flogged) if she makes any more noise.[13]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to sweep” is recorded in the 14th century in a life of Saint Francis, who went about preaching and scopando le ecclesie (sweeping the churches).[4][3][2] The TLIO also records a figurative sense, to scour a territory in search of something.[2]

The sexual sense spread from Rome: Zingarelli entered it in 1922 as a Romanesco word, and scopata for intercourse was noted by Panzini in 1923 as slang of Rome.[4] Treccani observes that because this sense now prevails, spazzare and similar verbs often replace scopare in the sense of sweeping.[14] In curling the verb is used for sweeping the ice in front of the stone.[3]

Timeline

  • Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses the verb.[2]
  • Late 13th century – The Novellino uses it for beating with a broom or whip.[4]
  • 14th century – The sense “to sweep” appears in a life of Saint Francis.[4][15]
  • 1550 – Scopata is recorded for a blow with a broom.[4]
  • Late 17th century – The sexual sense appears in a Florentine–Romanesco glossary.[4]
  • 1831 – Belli writes scopà in Romanesco.[4]
  • 1922 – Zingarelli records the sexual sense as Romanesco.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To sweep with a broom; also without an object: Prima di cena scopo la cucina.[6][7][12]
  2. (figurative, uncommon) To clear away, eat up everything: I ragazzi hanno scopato tutta la torta.[7][12]
  3. (vulgar) To have sex with someone; also intransitive, to have sex.[6][7][12][14]
  4. (historical) In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, to flog publicly with a scourge of broom twigs; also to whip.[6][7][16]
  5. (sport) In curling, to sweep the ice in front of the stone.[3]

Word family

  • scopata
  • scopatore
  • scopatura
  • scopa
  • spazzare
  • Latin scōpae
  • Spanish escobar

Usage notes

Because of the vulgar sense, which Sabatini–Coletti calls Romanesco in origin, spazzare is often preferred for sweeping.[14][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ 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, 198
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ 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
  12. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  14. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  15. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli