scuola

Forms

scuola f (plural scuole, diminutive scuolétta)^[1] The popular and poetic form is scola.^[2][3][4] Old texts also have Old Italian scòlla, Old Italian scora and Old Italian squòla.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin schŏla (“school”), borrowed from Ancient Greek σχολή (skholḗ, “free time, rest; study; school”).^[6][7][8][1] The Greek word first meant “free time, quiet, rest”, then study and learned discussion, and then the place where it was held.^[7][2][9] DELI connects it with Ancient Greek ἔχω (ékhō, “to hold; to occupy oneself”).^[6]

The word is pan-Romance: French école, Occitan escola, Catalan escola, Spanish escuela, Portuguese escola, Sardinian iscola and Romanian școală.^[7][10] DEI and Körting regard its Romance forms as semi-learned rather than fully popular.^[11][12] Latin passed it on to Celtic and Germanic as well, as in Old English scol and German Schule.^[11][10] The standard form has the diphthong /wɔ/ of a stressed open /ɔ/, while scola keeps the plain vowel.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in the form scola, is in the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio from the end of the 12th century: Poi lu fante foe crescutu, / a la scola foe transutu (“When the boy had grown, he was sent to school”).^[6][5] The Fiore (1280–1310) also has scola, and the Novellino at the end of the 13th century uses the word for the place where lessons are held.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Dante extended the word to the teaching and practice one receives (before 1321) and to a group of poets or thinkers who follow one master (1313–1319).^[6] From the 14th century, in Boccaccio, scuola also meant a religious confraternity, a sense found in Medieval Latin from the 9th century and recorded at Venice from 1142, and, from the 16th century the building where a confraternity met.^[11] Through that use it came to mean a synagogue, recorded in 1729 in Fagiuoli.^[11] The Venetian scuole, with their famous paintings, made the word known abroad, and English writers used it of them from 1720.^[13]

In the 20th century the word came to stand for a country's whole school system (1965, Garzanti).^[6] Its derivative scuolabus (1965) is the English schoolbus.^[6] A separate Tuscan scuola meant “shuttle” for weaving, and a kind of bread shaped like one.^[11][14]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – Scola appears in the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio.^[6][5]
• 1142 – A confraternity called scuola is recorded at Venice.^[11]
• 1280–1310 – The Fiore has scola.^[6]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses it for the place of teaching.^[6]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses it for the followers of one master.^[6]
• 14th century – Boccaccio uses scuola for a confraternity.^[11]
• 1720 – English first records scuola for a Venetian confraternity.^[13]
• 1729 – Fagiuoli uses scuola for a synagogue.^[11]
• 1965 – The sense “a country's school system” and the word scuolabus are recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A school: an institution, public or private, that gives methodical, collective teaching: Mia figlia comincia la scuola a settembre.^[8][2][9]
2. The education system of a country: Il governo promette più fondi alla scuola pubblica.^[8][9]
3. A school or course for a practical skill: una scuola di vela.^[8][9]
4. Teaching, lessons, the school day: Domani non c'è scuola per lo sciopero.^[8][2]
5. The pupils and staff of a school: Tutta la scuola è uscita in cortile.^[8][9][4]
6. The building of a school: La scuola è dietro la chiesa.^[8][9]
7. A school of thought or art, the followers of one master or method: la scuola siciliana.^[8][6]
8. (history) At Venice, a religious and charitable confraternity, or its seat.^[13][11]

Word family

• scuolabus
• scuoletta
• scolaro
• scolaresca
• scolaretto
• scolastico
• scolastica

Related words

• autoscuola
• scolare
• scolarità
• Latin schola
• Ancient Greek σχολή (skholḗ)

Usage notes

Fare scuola means both “to teach” and, figuratively, “to set an example that others follow”.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
4. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
5. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3431
12. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
13. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET