Etymologically
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scrivere

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈskri.ve.re/[1]

Forms

scrivere (first-person singular present scrìvo, first-person singular past historic scrìssi, past participle scrìtto, auxiliary avére)[1] Old Italian also had scrìbere and scrìvare.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin scrībō (“to draw with a stylus, write”).[3][4][1] Every branch of Romance has it, so that DÉRom reconstructs it for Proto-Romance: French écrire, Occitan escriure, Catalan escriure, Spanish escribir, Portuguese escrever, Sardinian iscrìere and Romanian scrie.[4][5][6] Latin also gave the participle scrīptus and the nouns behind scrittore and scrittura.[3]

De Vaan traces the Latin verb to Proto-Italic *skreif-e/o- (“to carve”) and Proto-Indo-European *skreybʰ- (“to carve”), with Oscan scriftas (“written”) and Latvian skrīpāt (“to scratch, scribble”).[7] Nocentini notes that writing came late among human crafts, so that verbs for it were mostly taken from verbs for incising or scratching, and compares Russian скрести́ (skrestí, “to scratch”).[4][8] The Latin verb was borrowed into Celtic and Germanic, giving Old High German scrīban and modern German schreiben.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the verb to 1219.[9][10] DELI's first dated sense, “to trace letters and signs”, is from the Novellino at the end of the 13th century, while “to compose a work” is in Dante's Vita nuova (1293–1294).[3]

Semantic evolution

Brunetto Latini already sets reading and writing side by side: grammar “insegna drittamente parlare e drittamente scrivere” (teaches to speak and write correctly).[2] The sense “to write to someone, correspond” is in Iacopone da Todi (before 1306), “to state in one's works” in the translation of Crescenzi (c. 1350), and “to spell” in Benedetto Varchi (before 1565).[3]

From the participle came scritto “written” and è scritto “it is destined”, already in Dante.[3][11] Other derivatives followed: scrittore (before 1294), scrittoio “study, writing desk” (Boccaccio), scritturare “to engage an actor” (1805).[3] The English slang screeve “to write” (1851) may come from the Italian verb.[10]

Timeline

  • 1219 – First record.[9]
  • Late 12th century – Scrittura “document” is in the Ritmo cassinese.[3]
  • Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses scritto and scrittore.[3]
  • 1293–1294 – Dante uses it for composing a work.[3]
  • Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses it for writing letters.[3]
  • Before 1565 – Benedetto Varchi uses it for spelling a word.[3]
  • 1805 – Scritturare “to engage a performer” is recorded.[3]
  • 1851 – English slang screeve is recorded.[10]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To write, to trace letters, figures or notes on a surface: Mia figlia ha imparato a scrivere a cinque anni.[9][12][13]
  2. To spell, (reflexive, impersonal) to be spelled: Come si scrive il tuo cognome?[9][12][1]
  3. To compose a text or a piece of music: scrivere un giallo, scrivere una sonata.[9][12][13]
  4. To write to someone, send a letter or message: Ti scrivo appena arrivo.[9][14]
  5. To be a writer, to write for a living or as an activity.[12][13]
  6. Of a pen, to work: Questa matita non scrive.[9][12]
  7. To note down, record: scrivere la data in fondo.[14][11][1]

Word family

  • scritto
  • scritta
  • scrittore
  • scrittura
  • scrittoio
  • scritturare
  • scrivente
  • scrivania
  • scrivano
  • scribacchiare
  • riscrivere
  • ascrivere
  • coscrivere
  • sottoscrivere
  • scriba
  • scripta
  • scrittorio
  • scriversi
  • scrivibile
  • scriviritto
  • descrivere
  • iscrivere
  • prescrivere
  • Latin scribo

Usage notes

Saper leggere e scrivere is to have a basic education, and è scritto or era scritto means “it was fated”.[11] Macchina da scrivere is a typewriter.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 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
  4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
  6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  10. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  11. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  12. ^ 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
  13. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  14. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli