scrivano

Forms

scrivano m (plural scrivani, feminine scrivana)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian scribano and Old Italian scriviano.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *scrībānem (“scribe”), an accusative of the type in ⟨-a, -ānis⟩ made for Latin scrība (“clerk, scribe”), which then joined the Italian nouns in -ano.^[3][1][4] DELI and GDLI start from Medieval Latin scrivanus or scribanus, found in the Edict of Rothari and at Venice in 1278.^[5][2][6] Körting notes that a form *scribānus is also possible.^[7]

The same word is French écrivain, Occitan escrivan, Catalan escrivà, Spanish escribano and Portuguese escrivão.^[3][8] The Latin noun is formed from scrībō (“to write”) with the agent suffix ⟨-a⟩.^[9][1] The learned doublet is scriba.^[1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the word to 1219 in the sense of a clerk who copies documents in an office.^[11][12] DELI's first Italian record is in Giordano da Pisa's Lenten sermons (1305–1306), meaning a copyist and an official who drafts or copies documents.^[5] Jacopone uses it in the 13th century.^[6][10]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the scrivano was anyone who wrote for others: Bencivenni compares careless men to scribes who start a page in a good hand and end it badly, and in the 14th-century Bible the word renders the Jewish scribe, the doctor of the law.^[2][6] At sea it was the officer who kept a ship's books;^[13][14] Francesco da Barberino names his place on a galley.^[13][14] A Tuscan proverb says giudice e scrivano vuol tenere il piede in mano, of judges and clerks who are in no hurry.^[13]

The scrivania was first the clerk's office (Medieval Latin scribania, Venice 1309, Italian 1501); since the 18th century it has also been the writing desk.^[5] In the merchant navy scrivano later named a young officer from a nautical school on his first posting.^[15][4] Zoologists call a vine beetle scrivano della vite from the marks it leaves on the leaves.^[16][4]

German took the word as schrivan, a ship's purser, in 1434, and English recorded scrivano in 1581.^[12]

Timeline

• 1219 – GRADIT's date for the first record.^[11]
• 1278 – Medieval Latin scribanus is recorded at Venice.^[6]
• 1305–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses scrivano “copyist, clerk”.^[5]
• 1343 – scrivanato, the office of a clerk, is recorded at Pisa.^[6]
• 1434 – German schrivan “ship's purser” is recorded.^[12]
• 1501 – scrivania “clerk's office” appears in Venetian documents.^[5]
• 1581 – English scrivano is recorded.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A scribe or copyist; someone who writes letters or documents for others: uno scrivano pubblico vicino al porto.^[11][17][15]
2. A clerk who drafts or copies documents in an office.^[11][4][16]
3. (nautical, historical) The officer who kept the accounts and inventories on a merchant ship; later, a newly qualified officer on his first voyage.^[11][14][15]
4. (zoology) scrivano della vite, a leaf beetle that is a pest of the vine (Bromius obscurus).^[4][18][16]

Word family

• scrivania
• scrivanello
• scrivaneria
• scrivanuccio

Related words

• scriba
• scrivere
• Latin scrība
• French écrivain

Usage notes

The feminine is scrivana.^[1][14] Crampo degli scrivani is writer's cramp.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
11. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
13. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
18. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana