scortare

Forms

scortare (first-person singular present scòrto, first-person singular past historic scortài, past participle scortàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian scorta + -are, from the noun for an escort or guard.^[2][3][4][1] Körting saw it as an intensive verb.^[5] The noun is the feminine of scorto, past participle of scorgere in the sense “to guide, show the way”, used as a noun.^[2][6] That verb continues Vulgar Latin *excorrigere (“to guide with the eye”), formed from ex- and corrigō (“to straighten, set right”).^[2][6][7] The DEI notes that the verb matches a Medieval Latin phrase meaning “to make an escort”.^[8]

The dictionaries date the verb differently: DELI to 1680, GRADIT to 1691, Nocentini and Devoto–Oli to the 17th century, the DEI only to the 19th, while Zingarelli gives 1313 and Sabatini–Coletti the 14th century.^{[2][3][6][4][8][9][10]} In the older language the same sense was carried by that verb itself, “to guide or accompany someone to protect or honour them”, from Dante's Commedia on.^[7]

Meyer-Lübke and von Wartburg held that the verb and the noun spread from Italy: the verb gave French escorter (from 1530) and Spanish escoltar (1544), and the noun gave escorte, escolta and Portuguese escolta.^[7][11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record, from G. Brusoni in 1680, has the modern sense: to act as an escort, accompanying someone to protect, defend or honour them.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Tommaseo's dictionary of 1861 illustrates it with prisoners taken to the frontier under guard: scortare co' carabinieri insino alla frontiera.^[12] Today it means to accompany a person or a vehicle as a guard, to protect or keep watch over them, and in naval use to convoy ships.^{[3][4][10][1]} Gabrielli adds accompanying someone as a guide or as a mark of honour.^[13]

English took the noun escort from French escorte in the 1570s, in the military sense of an armed guard; the English verb (1708) comes from that noun or from French escorter.^[14]

Timeline

• 1251 – Scorta “escort, guard” is recorded in Medieval Latin at Viterbo.^[2]
• 1530 – French escorter is first recorded, taken from Italian.^[7]
• 1544 – Spanish escoltar is first recorded.^[7]
• 1680 – G. Brusoni uses scortare “to escort”.^[2]
• 1691 – GRADIT's date for the verb.^[3]
• 1708 – The English verb escort is first recorded.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To escort: to go with someone or something as a guard, to protect or keep watch over them: Due agenti scortavano l'imputato in tribunale.^{[3][4][10][15]}
2. To accompany someone as a guide or as a mark of honour.^[13]
3. (nautical) To convoy ships.^[1][16]

Word family

• riscortare

Related words

• scorta
• scorgere
• French escorter
• English escort

Usage notes

Another scortare, with a closed /o/ (io scórto, against io scòrto for “to escort”), means “to shorten”.^[4][10] It is regional and colloquial in central and northern Italy, and in literary use also means to depict in foreshortening.^[3][4][9] It comes from Late Latin excurtāre, from Latin curtō (“to shorten”), or is formed from curtāre with the prefix s-, and is dated to about 1325.^[1][3][10] The LEI records it in Italian from Ariosto (1533) and in many northern dialects.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 21, 1479
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3419
9. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
17. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 22, 54