scorza

Forms

scorza f (plural scorze)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian scorça, iscorza, scorcia and scorsa.^[2][3] The Sicilian forms in scorch- probably follow the matching forms of the verb scorzare in the same texts.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin scortea (“fur garment”), the feminine of the adjective scorteus (“made of skin or leather”) used as a noun.^[4][5][1] The adjective is derived from Latin scortum (“skin, hide”).^[4][5][6] GRADIT takes the Latin source to be the neuter plural of the adjective, meaning “leather objects”.^[7] In much of the Romance area this word replaced Latin cortex (“bark”) in the sense “bark”.^[8]

The same word is French écorce, Occitan escorsa, Catalan escorsa and Romanian scoarță.^[5][9] Compare also Sicilian scorcia.^[1] Körting rejected Diez's suggestion that the Italian word might come from the Latin word for bark with a prefixed ⟨s-⟩.^[8] REW also put here, with doubts about the sense, Spanish escuerzo (“toad”).^[9][8]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *skorto- and Proto-Indo-European *sk(o)rt-o- (“a cutting”), so that the skin was named as something cut off.^[10] Nocentini traces it to the root Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”), which also gave Latin caro (“flesh”) and corium (“leather”).^[5][6] Devoto adds that the form with the initial ⟨s-⟩ survives in Celtic and Germanic, as in German Schere (“scissors”).^[11] The Latin word also meant “prostitute”, a euphemistic use of the word for skin.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the poems of Giacomino Pugliese, a Tuscan copy from the first half of the 13th century.^[2] DELI dates the sense “bark of a tree” to Bono Giamboni, before 1292: in his translation people make a kind of wool from leaves and bark (di foglie e di scorze d'arbori) to clothe themselves.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

From the bark of trees the word spread to the peel of fruit and the shells of seeds, recorded in a medical text, the Libro della cura delle febbri, from the early 14th century.^[4][2] Dante uses it for the bark of the tree in Purgatorio 32, where the eagle of Jove swoops down “breaking the bark” (rompendo de la scorza).^[3]

Figurative uses came early: Boccaccio used it in 1341–1342 for an outward appearance, and Petrarch for the human skin and the body as the covering of the soul: lasciando in terra la terrena scorza (“leaving on earth the earthly husk”).^[4][7] The skin of animals, especially fish and reptiles, is recorded in the dictionaries only from Rigutini and Fanfani in 1875, though Leonardo already wrote of the salamander refining its scorza in fire.^[4][12]

Today the word is a common one, with the idioms avere la scorza dura (to be tough, able to bear hardship) and essere di scorza tenera (to be easily moved).^[7][13] German has Scherz, an Austrian, Swiss and Bavarian word for a slice of bread with plenty of crust, from the Italian word.^[14]

Timeline

• 1200–1250 – Giacomino Pugliese uses the word in his poems.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for the bark of trees.^[4]
• 1306–1308 – Dante writes rompendo de la scorza in Purgatorio 32.^[3]
• Early 14th century – The sense “peel of a fruit” appears in the Libro della cura delle febbri.^[4]
• 1341–1342 – Boccaccio uses it for an outward appearance.^[4]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses it for human skin.^[4]
• 1875 – Rigutini and Fanfani record the sense “skin of some animals”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) bark: the outer layer of dead tissue covering the trunk, branches and roots of woody plants.^[7][15][12]
2. The peel or rind of some fruits, and the woody shell of nuts, chestnuts and almonds: Grattugia un po' di scorza di limone sulla torta.^[7][16][17]
3. The tough skin of some animals, especially fish and reptiles.^[7][15][16]
4. (figurative, ironic) Human skin, as a sign of toughness: avere la scorza dura, essere di scorza dura.^[7][15][16]
5. (literary) The body as the material covering of the soul.^[7][15][17]
6. (figurative) Outward appearance, especially one that hides a person's real character: Dietro la sua scorza scontrosa c'è una ragazza affettuosa.^[7][16][18]
7. (dated) Nothing at all, in negative phrases such as non valere una scorza and non capire una scorza.^[16][15]
8. Another name for cascara sagrada, the bark of a buckthorn.^[7][12]

Word family

• scorzare
• scorzetta
• scorzatura
• scorzone

Related words

• cuoio
• carne
• Latin scortum
• French écorce

Usage notes

The z is pronounced either voiced or voiceless: /ˈskɔr.d͡za/ or /ˈskɔr.t͡sa/.^[1][15][18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
15. ^ 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
16. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
17. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
18. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli