scorrere

Forms

scorrere (first-person singular present scórro, first-person singular past historic scórsi, past participle scórso, auxiliary (intransitive) èssere or (transitive) avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin excurrō (“to run out, run forth”), formed from ex- (“out”) and currō (“to run”).^[2][3][4][1] Italian lost the initial vowel, as did Romanian scurge (“to drip”) and Friulian scori.^[5]

Other forms kept it: Sardinian iscurrere, Catalan escórrer, Spanish escurrir (“to drip”), Portuguese escorrer and Old Occitan escorrer.^[3][6][5] In French the verb survives only in the dialects, though it must once have existed in Old French as well.^[5] Many of the Italian senses, such as raiding and running quickly, were already Latin.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli dates the verb to before 1250, and GRADIT's first record, of the 13th century, is an obsolete sense “to persist in a vice or fault”.^[7][4] Giordano da Pisa's sermons of 1305–1306 use it in a figurative sense of running on without hindrance, and Florentine chronicles of the same years use it for armed men overrunning a territory.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense of moving along a track, inside a channel or over a support is recorded in Boccaccio's Filocolo (1336–1338) and in the Tuscan translation of Crescenzi of about 1350.^[5][2] Dante has a troop that “runs without a rein” (come schiera che scorre senza freno).^[8] The transitive sense of raiding, “to make forays”, appears in Giovanni Villani.^[2] The derivative scorreria, a raid, followed in the 14th century.^[2]

The sense of running the eyes over a page, reading quickly, is recorded in Benedetto Varchi before 1565, and the use of time, “to pass by”, in Filippo Sassetti in 1576.^[2] Castiglione's sense of going to excess is now obsolete.^[7][4] Today the verb is used of liquids that flow, of traffic that moves freely, of images passing on a screen, and of a text or argument that reads smoothly.^[4][9][10]

Timeline

• Before 1250 – the date Zingarelli gives for the first record.^[7]
• 1305–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses the verb figuratively.^[2]
• c. 1305 – Paolino Pieri's chronicle uses iscorrere of an armed band overrunning a territory.^[5]
• 1336–1338 – Boccaccio's Filocolo has the sense of moving along a course.^[5]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it transitively, “to raid”.^[2]
• c. 1350 – the Tuscan Crescenzi has it of things moving along a track.^[2]
• Before 1565 – Benedetto Varchi uses it for reading quickly.^[2]
• 1576 – Filippo Sassetti uses it of time passing.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To move along a track or course, or inside a channel: La corda scorre nella puleggia.^[4][9][7]
2. (intransitive) Of liquids, to flow or stream: Il sangue le scorreva dal ginocchio.^[4][10][11]
3. (intransitive) To move freely, without hindrance, as traffic does.^[4][9][10]
4. (intransitive, figurative) Of a text or argument, to read smoothly and hold together.^[4][9][7]
5. (intransitive) Of time, to pass by.^[4][9][10]
6. (intransitive) Of images or memories, to follow one another quickly.^[4][9]
7. (transitive) To skim: to run the eyes over a text, to read it quickly: scorrere la lista della spesa.^[7][11][12]
8. (transitive, literary) To go over in thought or memory.^[7][11]
9. (transitive, dated) To overrun a territory, making raids.^[4][7][11]
10. (obsolete) To go to excess.^[4][7]

Word family

• scorreria
• scorrevole
• scorrevolezza
• scorribanda
• scorrimento
• scorso
• scorsa
• scorridore
• riscorrere
• sovrascorrere
• scorrazzare

Related words

• correre
• Latin excurrō

Usage notes

The verb is conjugated like correre, with essere when intransitive and avere when transitive.^[1][7] Tutto scorre expresses the endless flow of things.^[12] The origin of the derivative scorribanda is unclear: it looks like a compound with banda “troop”, but Giovanni Alessio took it from Spanish escurribanda.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 22, 1
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 18
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ 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)
12. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli