scuro

scuro¹ dark

Etymology tree of scuro¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin obscūrus

Spanish oscuro

French obscur

Italian oscuro

Italian scuro

From the same root · scuro¹

Latin obscūrē ← obscūrus

Latin obscūritās ← obscūrus

Latin obscūrō ← obscūrus

Pronunciation

• /ˈsku.ro/^[1]

Forms

scuro (feminine scura, masculine plural scuri, feminine plural scure)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “dark” is from Italian oscuro (“dark”) with the loss of the first vowel, which speakers took for part of the article: ⟨l'oscuro⟩ was heard as ⟨lo scuro⟩.^[2][3][4] Nocentini treats it instead as the popular outcome of Latin obscūrus (“dark, not clear”), whose ⟨o-⟩ was absorbed by the article.^[5][6]

The same Latin adjective is Old French escur, Old Occitan escur, Catalan escur, Portuguese escuro and Dalmatian scor.^[5][7]

The Latin word is a fossilised compound of ob- and *scūrus (“dark”), which Wiktionary traces to Proto-Italic *skoiros and Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh₃i- (“dark”).^[1] De Vaan, who takes the original meaning to be “darkened, covered”, finds the analysis disputed and proposes Proto-Indo-European *skoh₂i-ro- (“dark, shaded”) only tentatively.^[8] Devoto linked it with a root meaning “to cover”, as in English sky.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun “darkness” is recorded first, before 1250 in Giacomo da Lentini; the adjective follows before 1276 in Pannuccio dal Bagno, meaning “hard to understand”, and before 1292 in Bono Giamboni, meaning “without light”.^[2] Giamboni advises that a cellar dèe essere contro a settentrione, freddo e scuro, “should face north, cold and dark”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “sad, painful” is recorded about 1300 in the Laude urbinati, and the use for colours with dull, deep tones before 1337 in Cino da Pistoia.^[2] After a colour adjective scuro marks a deeper shade: Medieval Latin has cavallam baiam scuram, “a dark bay mare”, at Bologna in 1268, and Italian has the construction from 1497.^[2] Painters used the noun for the shaded parts of a picture from the late 14th century (Cennino Cennini).^[2]

Dante used it for “unknown, forgotten”, saying of a widow that she stayed dispetta e scura for over eleven hundred years (Paradiso 11), and as an adverb in Più non dirò, e scuro so che parlo, “I will say no more, and I know I speak darkly”.^[10][11][12] The verb scurire “to darken” is recorded before 1577.^[2] In modern use the adjective also describes a low musical timbre and, in phonetics, the back vowels.^[3][13]

Timeline

• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses the noun for darkness.^[2]
• 1268 – Medieval Latin baiam scuram “dark bay” is recorded at Bologna.^[2]
• Before 1276 – Pannuccio dal Bagno uses it for “hard to understand”.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for “without light”.^[2]
• About 1300 – The Laude urbinati use it for “sad, painful”.^[2]
• Before 1337 – Cino da Pistoia uses it of colours.^[2]
• Late 14th century – Cennino Cennini uses the noun for the shaded part of a painting.^[2]
• 1497 – It follows a colour adjective in an Italian document.^[2]
• Before 1577 – Pietro Andrea Mattioli uses scurire.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. dark: poorly lit or without light: Il corridoio era stretto e scuro.^[3][10][11]
2. Of the sky or weather, overcast, gloomy.^[3][10]
3. Of a colour, deep, tending to black; after a colour name it marks a darker shade: verde scuro.^[3][14][13]
4. Dark as opposed to light, of hair, eyes, skin, beer or clothes: Ha i capelli scuri.^[3][10]
5. (figurative) sullen, frowning, troubled: farsi scuro in volto.^[3][14]
6. (figurative) Grim, unhappy: anni scuri.^[3][11][13]
7. (figurative, literary) obscure, hard to understand; also unknown, forgotten.^[3][10][14]
8. (music) Of low timbre;^[3][10][13] (phonetics) of a vowel, back.^[3][10][13]

Noun

1. darkness: lo scuro del bosco.^[11][13][14]
2. Dark colour: vestire di scuro.^[11][13]
3. (painting) The shaded part of a picture.^[2][6]

Adverb

1. (literary) Obscurely, in a way hard to understand.^[11][14][12]

Word family

• scurire
• scurità
• scuramente
• scurezza
• scuriccio
• scurore
• semiscuro
• chiaroscuro

scuro² window shutter

Pronunciation

• /ˈsku.ro/^[1]

Forms

scuro m (plural scuri)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the window shutter is borrowed from Lombardic *skūr (“shelter, protection”), a northern word, above all Venetian, in which the Lombardic word for a shelter became a building term for the shutter that shields a window.^[2][5][3][6] Nocentini compares Old High German scūr (“barn, shed”).^[5] Devoto–Oli and Gabrielli see the Lombardic word crossed with the adjective meaning “dark”.^[10][15]

Others derive it from Latin obscūrus (“dark”): Meyer-Lübke lists the Italian and Friulian shutter words among the derivatives of the Latin adjective, and Cortelazzo and Marcato report that Salvioni, DEI and Prati preferred the Latin source because the word covers a wide area.^[7][16]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Oudin's dictionary of 1640, with the sense “window shutter”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word is spread over the north and beyond: Cortelazzo and Marcato record it in Venetian, Trentino, Friulian, Lombard, Emilian, Ligurian and Corsican, and in Tuscany, the Marche and Campania.^[16] In the northern dialects it can also mean the outside shutter, the imposta.^[6][17] The diminutive scuretto, used for the inner shutters, is called “a word in common use” by Fanfani in 1855.^[2][6] D'Annunzio writes Ho fatto aprire gli scuri, “I had the shutters opened”.^[17]

Timeline

• 1640 – Oudin records scuro “window shutter”.^[2]
• 1855 – Fanfani records scuretto as a word in common use.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Each of the solid, usually wooden shutters fitted inside a window or door to darken the room, mostly in the plural: Chiudi gli scuri, c'è troppa luce.^[3][10][6]
2. (regional, northern) An outside shutter, a persiana.^[3][6][17]

Word family

• scuretto
• scurino