scusare

Forms

scusare (first-person singular present scùso, first-person singular past historic scusài, past participle scusàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian iscusare and Old Italian scuxare.^[2][3] The learned variant escusare is archaic.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin excūsō (“to excuse, justify; to plead as an excuse”), with the loss of the first syllable.^[6][3][7][1] The LEI counts it among the inherited words, like Friulian scusâ and Romansh s-chüsar, while the learned escusare came from writing.^[3] Nocentini instead treats the Italian verb as a Latin loan.^[8] The verb is Old French escuser (from the mid-12th century), Old Occitan escuzar, Spanish excusar and modern French excuser.^[3][8]

The Latin verb is formed on Latin causa (“cause; lawsuit”) with ex- (“out of”), meaning “to put out of the case”, and its /au/ became /uː/ in the unstressed syllable.^[8][9][10] The opposite verb, accusare, is formed with ad-.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Giacomo da Lentini (about 1230–1250).^[2] DELI dates “to clear someone of a fault” to Bondie Dietaiuti in the first half of the 13th century, who has Love reply “eo saccio ben che ne sarìa scusato” (I know well that I would be excused for it).^[6][11] The reflexive “to apologize, defend oneself” is in the Novellino at the end of the century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the verb in religion (to absolve), in law (to plead innocence), in trade (to pay off a debt) and for “to refuse” and “to avoid”.^[2] Dante writes “scusar non si posson l'offense” (the offences cannot be excused) in the Paradiso.^[7][12] The courtesy use “to pardon”, as in scusi and mi scusi, is recorded in Galileo (before 1631).^[6]

The noun scusa “excuse” is in Chiaro Davanzati (13th century), and Guittone d'Arezzo (before 1294) uses it for “pretext”.^[6] Scusabile is in Cavalca (before 1342), and the noun scusante “excuse, mitigating circumstance” is recorded in 1960.^[6][8] The proverb chi si scusa si accusa says that one who makes excuses shows one's guilt.^[13][14]

Timeline

• About 1230–1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses scusare.^[2]
• First half of the 13th century – Bondie Dietaiuti uses it for clearing someone of a fault.^[6]
• Late 13th century – The reflexive appears in the Novellino.^[6]
• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses scusa for “pretext”.^[6]
• Before 1631 – Galileo uses scusare in courtesy formulas.^[6]
• 1960 – The noun scusante is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To excuse, forgive someone: Scusami, non volevo offenderti.^[7][4][5][1]
2. (transitive) To justify a fault or behaviour: La stanchezza non scusa la sua scortesia.^{[7][4][14][1]}
3. In polite formulas, to ask pardon or attention: Scusi, sa dov'è la stazione?^[7][14][13]
4. scusa or scusate se è poco!: ironically, of something remarkable.^[7][4][13]
5. (archaic) To spare, exempt, avoid, or refuse.^[7][14][9]

Word family

• scusa
• scusabile
• scusante
• scusato

Related words

• accusare
• causa
• Latin excuso

Usage notes

The reflexive scusarsi means “to apologize”: Si è scusato per il ritardo.^[14][13][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 22, 85
4. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
10. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli